Changing Everything
by ScarletKnightTheLostCatBasket
Summary: Nichole had never thought that she would ever get the chance to change the ending of a novel that she had loved for years. She had always wished to change the ending, to save those that died. However, a dream and a wish that she made changes everything. She is able to save them, but now will she ever be able to go home? Or is she stuck there forever?
1. Chapter 1

"Okay class, it's time to hand in those book reports." The teacher said from the front of the class room.

Students started looking through their bags, while others had the reports already on their desks waiting for the teacher to come and get them.

Nichole was one of the students that had the book report already out on her desk, but her mind was somewhere else. She was looking out the window at the dead grass of the high school grounds, and wished that she was anywhere but here. Even though she loved English class, Nichole's heart wasn't really in it today.

The night before, Nichole had a dream that she would have something big happen to her today, and that it would change her life, and save others.

The dream was rolling over and over in Nichole's mind as she analyzed each part carefully, thinking that within the dream would be something that would give her a clue as to what would happen today.

Maybe it had something to do with _The Outsiders_ by S.E. Hinton, because Sodapop Curtis was the one that was talking to her in her dream. When Nichole tried to ask Soda questions, he would only lean close to put a hand over her mouth, and tell her that there was no time for questions and that everything would make sense when the time came.

When Soda had said "Savvy?" which meant something like "do you understand me?" all Nichole could do was nod. Soda then smiled took his hand off Nichole's mouth and walked away. That was where the dream had ended.

Nichole had woken up then and had written it all down on a sheet of paper that was now laying on top of her book report. The paper had been folded and put in her pocket, then taken out again and unfolded so many times that day that it now looked like an old sheet of paper with blue marks from her jeans.

Nichole thought that she had the answer in her grasp when a voice interrupted her.

"Nichole?" The teacher said, and it sounded like she had said it more than once now.

"Hmm?" was all that Nichole could say at the moment since she was still off a little bit trying to grasp at it before it was gone.

The person that was seated next to Nichole poked her hard in the arm with a pen.

"Ow! What?!" Nichole snapped at the guy sitting next to her and rubbing at the spot where she had been poked.

"Thank you Sam," The teacher had said, "Nichole I need your book report." She had a patient look on her face, but one could easily tell that steam was close to coming out of her ears.

The teacher's name was Miss. Jackson, and she was new to the school. On the first day of school, Miss Jackson had stood up in front of the entire grade 11 English class saying that she had just come out of college, and that she was very excited to work with the class. Then she told the students to write about themselves in a 500 word paragraph. The class wasn't too happy about that because not a lot of students liked telling a teacher anything about themselves, no matter how young the teacher is.

"Oh, right. Um, just hold on a sec please. I put it on my desk here somewhere." Nichole said now looking at her desk.

Her binder was sitting on the desk and was covering everything. She started to look through it, and then under it. There she saw the dream paper and the book report. Nichole made sure that she gave the teacher the book report.

"What's that Nichole?" The teacher asked looking at the piece of paper on Nichole's desk after she had the book report staked in her arms along with the others.

"Oh, that's nothing." Nichole said with a little bit of a nervous laugh, and quickly put the paper in her binder behind her silent reading book, which she hadn't even payed attention to the words at all during the time she was supposed to be reading it.

The teacher raised an eyebrow, then held out her hand, "Hand it over, Nichole."

Nichole thought of every argument in the world, everything from: _why do you want to look at it?_ All the way to _no._ But none of the words came from her brain to her lips.

Nichole only was able to dig out the paper and give it to her teacher.

"Thank you Nichole," The teacher said walking back up to her desk, "Now this piece of paper seems to be the thing that has you so distracted. Let's see if the entire class can help you out. It'll be part of today's lesson with analyzing things." The teacher then picked up a blue marker and started to write it out on the white board.

Nichole was frozen in her seat trying to think of something she could do, but nothing came to mind at all that would help her, and not have the paper along with her being dragged to the office where the principal would read it, and call her parents.

Nichole knew however that she would have to try. She dragged herself out of her seat, and walked up to the board, and the teacher. Who was just working on the first sentence that Nichole had wrote.

Nichole had picked up the eraser and swiped it across the board. Out of the corner of her eye, Nichole could see a few kids pull out their phones and hit record.

"What? Why?" The teacher asked.

"I think that I can figure out what I have on that paper on my own thank you." Nichole said and gently picked the paper out of the teacher's hand.

"You can't do that." The teacher said.

"And _you_ cannot put down what students had written up on the board for other students to see without consent." Nichole said.

"Nichole. Office _now_!" The teacher said.

"Gladly." Nichole said. She went to her desk picked up her binder, and walked out of the classroom.

Nichole was sure that the teacher would call down to the office and tell the office worker how much of a trouble maker Nichole was, and was also noting how long she thought that Nichole should be suspended for.

Nichole decided that she would do her best to defend herself, and hope that whoever that was going to dole out her punishment would listen to the two sides of the story.

[…]

"Nichole, what were you thinking?" The vice principal asked pacing behind his desk angrily.

Nichole was sitting in a chair calmly as the vice principal paced. She had been sent in there just as soon as she had walked into the schools front office, and was told that the vice principal was waiting for her. Nichole had sat down calmly, while the vice principal was pacing behind his desk. Nichole could guess that he had been doing that for about a minute without saying a word since she had sat down.

The vice principal had been working at the school a little bit longer than Nichole had been going to the school. He was a bolding man with a moustache that the students including Nichole were sure that when the vice principal retired, that moustache would probably become a beard.

"I was thinking that it was only my business about what was written on that sheet of paper, not the rest of the class's or even the teacher's for that matter." Nichole said.

"Alright then Nichole, why don't you tell me your side of the story? Because I haven't heard _anything_ about a sheet of paper." The vice principal said sitting in his desk. He looked like he was actually going to listen to her.

Nichole told the vice principal everything about what had happened in the class room from her point of view.

"I see." The vice principal said at the end of Nichole's story.

Nichole waited for the vice principal to say more, but he didn't say a word. He just stood up and walked to the school phone that hung on the wall. He called down to the classroom that Nichole had just left, and asked for Miss. Jackson to come up to his office.

[…]

It was a long and aggravating ordeal for Nichole to sit though, that was the telling of Miss. Jackson's side of the story. She told the vice principal all about how Nichole never did anything in her class, and just stared out the window the whole time. She then stated that today she had had it.

The vice principal looked at his computer, and then back at Miss. Jackson, and then back at his computer, then back at Miss. Jackson. "Now why don't I believe you?" he asked like he was about to pass out at any second.

"Well, I don't know _sir_. What part don't you believe?" Miss. Jackson asked with a bit of venom lacing her tone.

"Well. I'm just looking at Nichole's past classes, and what her teachers had said about her. The only thing that mentions anything about Nichole looking out the window, is when she's thinking really hard about something, and that she hardly ever does it." The vice principal explained.

"Well she has been doing it a lot this year." Miss. Jackson countenred.

"Nichole? Have you been doing it a lot this year?" The vice principal asked, looking at Nichole now.

"Not really. It was only twice this year before today, and it was only for a little bit I promise. I was just thinking about what to write for a couple of assignments." Nichole said.

"And what about today? Were you thinking about an assignment?" The vice principal asked.

"No sir. I was thinking about something that happened at home." Nichole said. This wasn't entirely a lie, because the dream did happen at home, and she was trying to figure it out.

"And this is the thing that you wrote down on this sheet of paper? And the same one that Miss. Jackson took from you, but you took back?" The vice principal asked.

"Yes, sir." Nichole said nodding.

"Miss. Jackson, it is not allowed to put anything on the board that is not an assignment that does not have a name on it. Also, everything that is written by a student, that a teacher wants to share with the rest of the class needs to get the students consent. Now Miss. Jackson, from what I got from both of what you two have told me, was that you did not have consent from Nichole to have her paper written out on the board for the rest of her class to see. Do not do that again. _ **YOU ARE FIRED!**_ " The vice principal said in a tone of voice that showed his authority.

"Understood." Miss. Jackson said quietly, looking down at her lap.

"And Nichole, please do not go up to teachers and get rid of anything that they are writing on the board again. I know that this time you were keeping something safe, but this should not happen again. So there is no longer any more need for you to do it." The vice principal said in the same tone of voice now pointed at Nichole.

"Yes sir." Nichole said, nodding.

"Well now that's all cleared up. You two may go now." The vice principal said.

[…]

It was the end of the day now, and Nichole was sure that nothing else was going to happen today, and that the dream meant nothing at all.

When Nichole had gotten home, she was alone and she thought that was probably for the best since she was a little bit late, and she didn't want her mom to ask her all the questions about where she had been and all of that.

Nichole just went to her room, and put her stuff on the floor, and she flopped on her bed. From there she looked at her book case that was on the other side of the room. She had close to a hundred books there, but one book really stood out to her. It was a worn out book with a black binding with red and white letters on it. _The Outsiders_.

Nichole sighed off the bed and pulled the book of the shelf and held it in her hands. Her copy of the book wasn't all that old, but one could tell that Nichole had read it a lot, and had poured over it time, and time again. She had bought it after she had read it for her grade eight class, and had just loved it. For the class too she had to make something like baseball cards for each of the seven boys, which were now tucked inside the book next to when each boy comes into the story. To keep the cards from falling out, Nichole had put a rubber band around it.

Inside the book also had markings of pencil inside it, some of it was her own notes about each chapter until she thought that it was stupid to do that, and had rubbed it out with and eraser. What she didn't erase were the places that she had under lined things in the book. Like all of the things that Dally did that was wrong, and Johnny telling Ponyboy to stay gold right before he died in the hospital after saving kid's lives inside a burring church.

As Nichole held the book in her hands she thought that maybe she should read it again since it was sort of in her head all day. Nichole took the book over to her bed, and she started it over right from the beginning.

By the time that Nichole had finished reading the book it was really late at night, and she was dead tired. She was also emotionally drained too because she had cried all over again when both Johnny and Dally died, and she wished that there could have been some way for someone to have told the boys not to go to the movies that night because then two of the gang wouldn't be gone at the end of the book.

Nichole lay on her bed, shut the book and held it tightly to her chest, hugging it as if it were an old friend.

"I wish I could save you all from pain." Nichole whispered, and fell asleep holding the book tightly.


	2. Chapter 2

When Nichole opened her eyes she found something strange. She appeared to be outside, and judging by the sun it was late afternoon. Even weirder, Nichole had no memory about going outside. She was laying on the side walk, still holding the closed book in her hands. Nichole sat up slowly and looked around. The place around her seemed very familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"You don't ever think," a voice said sounding mad at something, "not at home or anywhere when it counts." Nichole looked behind her at a group of teenaged boys sitting on the side walk not too far away from where she was sitting. The boys looked a lot like the boys from _The Outsiders_ , and judging by what the oldest looking one of the group was chewing out one of the youngest looking ones of the group.

"You must think at school," The oldest looking one continued, "with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have been carried a blade."

When the oldest looking one was done talking another one of the boys started talking, and sounded like he was trying to defend the younger one.

"Oh my god." Nichole whispered, and started flipping through the book and there that conversation was in chapter one right after the gang saved Ponyboy from getting beat up anymore by the socs.

"No, no, No! How is this possible?" Nichole practically screamed, and all seven of the boys turned to look at her.

Nichole blushed, and tried to pull herself together even though her perspective of things was falling around her.

"Um, are you okay miss?" One of the boys called.

Nichole looked at the boys again and saw that some looked concerned while the others just looked confused.

"I don't know." Nichole said, not over a whisper.

One of the boys came closer, and Sodapop's description started running through Nichole's head and he fit it perfectly.

"Do you need help?" The boy that looked like Sodapop asked.

"Yes, but I don't know if anyone can help me." Nichole said looking down at the book again. How did she end up here? Was it because she had wished that she could help the boys, and keep two of them from dying?

"We could try." Another voice said, this time when Nichole looked up the rest of the boys were standing around her. It seemed like the one that was Ponyboy was the one who had spoken this time. At each boy that Nichole looked at their description and name started running through her head. But Nichole could tell which were Dally and Johnny since they looked so different from the rest of the boys, and Nichole couldn't help crying knowing their fate.

Nichole put her head in her hands and sobbed.

"What did we do?" One of the boys asked. Nichole couldn't tell who was talking since she was crying.

"I don't know, maybe she just thought about something that upset her." Another said.

"Maybe we're the ones that are scaring her. Since she's on the ground and we're standing up." Soda said.

Nichole looked up again since she heard a sound like people sitting down, she saw that the boys were all sitting around her.

"Now, maybe we should start over." Sodapop said he had a kind smile on his face, though it looked like he was trying not to scare a child.

Nichole took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "How do you think this needs to be started?" she asked.

"Maybe by introducing ourselves." Johnny said in a quiet voice. The other boys nodded.

Each boy introduced themselves, but Nichole didn't really know why they were doing this. She knew that they were nice guys and all, but she never knew that they would be this nice to a girl they had never met. But then Nichole remembered that in chapter two of this book, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Two-bit were really nice to Charry and her friend even though they had never met her before.

"Um, I'm Nichole… and um, this might sound completely crazy, but please just here me out," Nichole began, and the boys around her raised their eyebrows and looked at one another, "but I kind of already knew who each of you were."

"How is that?" Darry asked.

"Well, you see um… you're all in a book. This book," Nichole said pointing at the book in her lap, "and it tells the story about what's going to happen to you all for the next week or two."

"How is that?" Dally asked, he really didn't seem to believe Nichole at all.

Nichole shrugs. "To tell you all the truth, I don't know. What I do know was that I fell asleep after making a wish about changing something in the book, then the next thing I know, I'm here with all of you."

"What is it that you wanted to change?" Johnny asked.

Nichole looked at Johnny for a moment then back down at the book, and sighed, "I'm not too sure if I should tell you that Johnny."

"Why can't you tell?" Ponyboy asked.

"For two reasons." Nichole said holding up two fingers then putting one down, "One it's possible that it could happen anyway, and two," she raised the other finger again, "You all might not believe me at all, and call me crazy."

"Well, what if we test it?" Steve said scratching his chin.

"How do you want to test it?" Nichole asked.

"You could tell us something that the book told you about each of us, that we didn't tell you." Steve said.

"That might work." Nichole said and started to think. "You all might want to brace yourselves." She added.

"Dallas, you lived in New York for a while and was arrested when you were ten." Nichole said looking at Dally.

"Sodapop you dropped out of school because you thought that you're dumb. To help your older brother, Darry, out with the bills you started working at the DX station full time." Nichole said thinking harder and harder about each one.

"Darry, you work to put your little brother, Ponyboy, through school, and you work really hard on keeping your family together. Which I personally think is very good of you."

"Two-bit, your real name is Keith, but everyone calls you Two-bit because you always have to get your two-bits worth in."

"Steve, you have been Sodapop's best friend since grade school, and you work at the same DX station as him, though you work part time. You can also lift a hub-cap quicker and quieter than anyone else in the neighborhood."

"Johnny, I'm sorry to say this aloud, but this is all that I can think of. Your parents fight all the time, and the gang wouldn't be able to get along without you because you're like a brother to them all." Nichole said in a very gentle voice. "You got that scar because you got beat up pretty bad." She added.

"And Ponyboy. There is a lot of stuff I can say about you: For example," Nichole starts counting off each thing on her fingers. "You love movies, and reading books, you favorite drink is Pepsi, you love chocolate, come to think of it your brothers do too. You also wish that your eyes were more gray because you hate most guys with green eyes."

When Nichole was done, she looked around at the boys all of their mouths were gaping open at her in shock. This couldn't help making Nichole blush.

"The book told you all of that?" Sodapop asked.

"That and more. Some of it is stuff that'll make someone in this group a little bit embarrassed." Nichole said.

"How come?" Ponyboy asked.

"Because it's told in his prospective." Nichole said.

"Who's?" Darry asked looking around at each of the members of the gang.

"How about I give you a hint, Darry." Nichole said.

"Um, okay." Darry said.

"It's one of you guys." Nichole said.

"That doesn't help," Dally said, "At all."

"Actually it does, because at the end of the book, he puts this entire story down in a paper for school to let other people know what it's like to be a greaser." Nichole said.

"So that narrows it down." Steve said sarcastically and crossing his arms.

"Just think guys, who would actually be willing to write this all down?" Nichole asked.

The guys thought about it before Two-bit snapped his fingers, "Dally did it!" he exclaimed.

"Why do you think I did it? You really think that I would put something about the life of greasers down in a paper then hand it into a teacher? That would be like me walking right up to the fuzz and saying that I did this, this and this," Dally said counting each time he said the word 'this' on his fingers, "Then hold my hands behind my back and tell them to take me back to the cooler."

"Okay, okay. I thought wrong. I just thought that you would do it just for a laugh." Two-bit said holding up his hands defensively.

"Well then maybe you wrote it down for a laugh since you just go to school for kicks." Dally said.

"Hey, that would require me to actually do some work for a class, and you know that's not how I do things." Two-bit said.

"Good point." Dally said.

"This is a really slow process." Steve said looking bored, he looked at Soda for him to agree, but Soda wasn't even paying attention.

Soda seemed to be looking at each one of his friends carefully weiging the odds of each one of them have written the paper, that ended up becoming their howl story.

Nichole sat there patiently waiting for someone to give her their idea on who may have done it.

After a few minutes, Soda seems to have come to a conclusion. "I think that it was either Ponyboy or Johnny." He said.

"Why do you think that?" Nichole asked.

"Well, each of them would probably really like things between the greasers and the socs to stop, and maybe one of them would have thought to speak up in a way to get it to stop once in for all." Soda said.

"That is very true, Sodapop." Nichole said glad that Soda was able to reach this conclusion, especially since he thought that he was dumb.

"Now the question is who did it?" Darry said, and looked at both Ponyboy and Johnny as if one of them would just come out and say that they did it.

"Based on what Soda said, I think that Ponyboy did it since he really tries in school. No offence Johnny." Dally said.

Johnny shrugged, "It's okay."

Darry looked at Nichole, and so did the rest of the gang. "Is he right?" Darry asked.

"Yes, Dally got it right." Nichole said.

All the eyes went from Nichole, to Ponyboy.

"What?" Ponyboy said.

"Don't get upset with him please. He only does it because of the thing that happens that I'm going to try and stop." Nichole said.

"And what is it that you're going to try and stop?" Darry asked.

"I can only tell you guys if you _all_ promise to listen to me, and to not do what I'm going to ask you guys not to do." Nichole said.

The boys all nodded but Dally. Nichole just looked at him, anger boiling inside her. "Fine then I won't tell you what you shouldn't do. Go on and you what you want Dallas."

"Come on Dal, she's probably been sent here for this reason." Johnny said.

Dally just looked at Johnny for a moment. "Fine, I promise the girl that I'll do what she wants." Dally snapped.

"Okay. Um can you all please promise me that you will not go to the drive-in movies, and talk to any soc girls?" Nichole asked.

"Why?" Darry asked.

"Because if any of you do. It's very possible that two of you that does will die. One in a fire and the other will die at the hands of a cop." Nichole said looking down at her hands.

"That doesn't make any sense at all." Ponyboy said.

"It actually does, because there are a lot of events that led up to those two deaths, but people like me who have been looking at this book and going over what happened. The main thing that started the clock ticking away those two lives faster, is going to the drive-in movies and talking to some soc girls." Nichole said.

"Who are they?" Soda asked.

"What do you mean by your question?" Nichole asked.

"Whose lives get cut short?" Soda explained.

"I don't think that telling you guy would be a good idea." Nichole said.

There was a long moment of silence when all eight of the people did not speak at all.


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't know about you guys, but I think that this girl is worth keeping around us." Two-bit said breaking the silence, and moving closer to Nichole, wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"That might be a good idea, but of course, it should be Nichole's choice." Darry said.

"How about it Nichole?" Two-bit asked.

"Um, in case you guys haven't noticed, I can't really go anywhere right now, because I don't even know how I got here to begin with." Nichole said gently pulling away from Two-bit's hold.

"Another good point sweet heart." Dally said with a smile.

"If you like good points, Dallas. Here's another one. I am _no one's_ sweet heart." Nichole said.

"Nichole, are you a greaser?" Ponyboy asked.

"That's a very good question Ponyboy, and I wish that I had the answer for you. Because where I come from there is no such thing as greasers and socs." Nichole said.

"Why?" Steve asked.

Nichole shrugged. "I guess that it's just a time thing. Like, I guess there were greasers and socs in the 1950's and 1960's, but when I'm from, that's all over and done with."

"What time are you from?" Soda asked looking pretty interested.

"Well when I left it was November 2015." Nichole said.

"Wow. So then compared to us you're just a baby." Darry said.

Nichole shrugged. "But here I'm not that much younger than Sodapop."

"How old are you then Nichole?" Johnny asked.

"Wait, it's like September or October here right?" Nichole asked.

"October yes." Darry said.

"Okay so then my math won't be off then. My birthday is in December, so then I'm 16." Nichole said.

"Yep, she's still a baby." Two-bit said

"Does that make me a baby as well?" Soda asked.

"No, you'll be 17 sooner." Two-bit said with a smile on his face

"Hey, guys. I just thought of something. Nichole has nowhere to sleep at night." Johnny said.

All of the boys stopped talking and looked at Nichole.

"She doesn't have any other clothes than the ones she's got too." Johnny added.

Nichole blushed and looked down at her hands again. "It's okay guys. I'll just sleep in the vacant lot, and when my clothes need washing, I can just ask one of you guys if I can barrow your washing machine."

"There's no way that we're going to be letting a lady like you sleep in the vacant lot." Darry said.

"And why not?" Nichole asked, "Johnny does it all the time when he doesn't want to go home. Why can't I?" Nichole looked at Darry, expecting him to answer her question.

"Um, we were all raised to not let a lady… uh… sleep outside… in the cold… alone." Soda seemed to have a hard time piecing together a setance.

"Oh…" Nichole said, looking back down again.

All the boys started to think hard about where Nichole could sleep at night, since that one seemed to be the most needed thing that needed to be solved. Nichole just stayed were she was and adjusted the rubber band on her book.

"There's room at our place." Soda said after a while.

"Where in our place?" Darry asked.

"In my old room," Soda said, "since I share with Ponyboy, I don't need the room."

"That's very kind of you Soda, thank you." Nichole said still looking down trying to hide her blush. Nichole had found out a long time ago that she liked Soda the most, but she really was going to do her best to not let it show especially as long as he was still going out with Sandy.

"No problem." Soda said.

Soon the sun was going down, and it was time for everyone to go their different ways.

"Nichole, do you know where the house is?" Ponyboy asked as the three boys and girl walked to the Curtis's house.

Nichole shook her head. "No, the book doesn't say where any of you live, even though it does give a little bit of a hint that your house isn't that far away from Johnny's."

"How is that put?" Ponyboy asked.

"Um, it said that sometimes when Johnny's parents fight, one could hear it all the way to your house." Nichole said.

"Huh." Ponyboy said. The look on his face said something about his thought process being along the lines of, _"I wrote that. Why?"_

When they got to the house Nichole saw that it looked a lot like it did in the movie, which was very interesting to her. From there Soda gave Nichole the tour of the house since it was Soda that had decided to let Nichole have his room to sleep in.

"Is it how you pictured it would be" Soda asked as he showed Nichole around.

"Sort of. It actually looks a lot like it did in the movie than what it did in the book, but then again the book doesn't really tell the reader about the house all that much. You guys do a good job keeping it clean though." Nichole said looking in the kitchen.

"Um, thanks." Soda said and lead Nichole down a hall where the bedrooms where. He pointed each one out, before coming up to his old room.

Soda opened the door and let Nichole inside. The room was clean and it was obvious that it hadn't been used in a while. Other than the closet that had all of Soda's clothes in it the room looked a lot like a guest room.

"Thank you again Soda for letting me stay here." Nichole said smiling warmly at Soda.

"You're welcome. Um, if you want I can take my clothes out of the closet, and put them somewhere else." Soda said starting to walk over to the closet.

"No, it's okay. You don't have to do that really. All I need is the bed. If I find any other clothes I'll just put them there. You don't have to move anything if you don't want to, or have any other place to put them." Nichole said.

Soda chuckled a little bit. "Alright, but you do realise that I'll have to come in here to get clean clothes in the morning."

"I know. When you come in I'll either leave the room or hide under the covers. It'll depend on the circumstances." Nichole said.

"Okay. I guess we'll be able to make it work." Soda said smiling.

"Yep." Nichole said smiling too.

"You know if you need more clothes, I'm sure the gang can all find you something that doesn't fit them anymore. Well if you don't mind wearing hand-me-downs from guys." Soda said.

"Thanks Soda. And I don't mind boy hand-me-downs. I have an older brother who gives me some of his old stuff now and again." Nichole said.

"Well then I guess that'll work out better than I thought. Though we might have to get you brand new um girl…underwear. And I guess someone will have to take you for that…" Soda trailed off and blushed a little.

"Um… Soda all you guys would have to do is walk me to the store so I wouldn't get lost, then come get me after an hour or two. I don't need help finding out if something fits or not." Nichole said, and was blushing too by the time she was done talking.

"Uh, good point, besides if you took Two-bit or Dally along they would probably have a little too much fun with that." Soda said.

"If they volunteered I would just ask them to point me in the right direction." Nichole said, not feeling all that safe with the thought of Dally or Two-bit going bra shopping with her.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea for pretty much all of use. Because even though Ponyboy and Johnny are young, they're not _that_ innocent." Soda said with a smirk.

"I'm aware of that, and I don't think I'll ask you or Steve to take me and get you guys into trouble with your girlfriends. And I'm pretty sure that Darry would have other things to do." Nichole said.

"How did you know about Evie and Sandy? Oh right… stupid question." Soda corrected himself.

"I don't know much about them, they're just mentioned once or twice, just enough to show that you have a relationship." Nichole said looking down feeling embarrassed about knowing all of this stuff.

"Um speaking of relationships. Do you have one back home that you miss?" Soda asked.

"No, I have never been in one before." Nichole said.

"Oh, that's too bad." Soda said.

"Hey Soda! Don't you have work in the morning?" Darry called from somewhere in the house.

"Yeah, I do!" Soda called back.

Nichole already knew that Soda had work in the morning. She looked out the window, and saw that it was already dark out.

"Good night, Soda." Nichole said, she didn't move not too sure what to do.

"Um, ya good night, Nichole." Soda said, and walked out of the room.

Nichole shut the door behind him, and there she was alone, and sort of free to do what she liked. She turned out the light, and crawled under the covers. It was there that she started to feel the beginning of being homesick. A tear slowly rolled down Nichole's cheek, and she did her best to stay quiet so she wouldn't wake anyone up with her crying. Eventually Nichole cried herself out and fell asleep.

[…]

The next morning Nichole woke up slowly, and wasn't too sure for a moment where she was, but as she rolled over and could really see the things around her from the light streaming in through the window she remembered where she was, and that it wasn't a dream at all.

This time Nichole thought of something. She closed her eyes and pinched herself hard under her sleeve so no one would be able to see the bruise it would make if it didn't work. But when Nichole opened her eyes again, she was right where she had been when she had first opened her eyes.

"Wonderful." Nichole whispered to herself.

It was then that the door opened a little bit and Soda pocked his head in. "Nichole are you asleep?" He whispered.

Nichole put the blankets over her head. "I'm not looking. Do what you need to do." She said.

Nichole could hear Soda walk into the room and open his closet.

"You just woke up, didn't you?" Soda guessed.

"Yes I did. When you're done I'll do the dishes." Nichole said.

"Why would you do the dishes?" Soda asked.

"Isn't that one of the rules in your house? That first one up makes breakfast, and the others do the dishes." Nichole said.

"Wow, you really do know stuff huh." Soda said.

"Yep, so I'll do dishes so you and Darry don't have to worry about them." Nichole said.

"And what about Pony?" Soda asked.

Nichole shrugged under the blanket. "I don't know, he could meet up with Johnny or something."

"And why would we leave you alone all day?" Soda asked.

"I don't know, how about because I don't want to be a tagalong and bug you guys." Nichole said.

Soda pulled the blanket off Nichole's face, and looked at her seriously, he looked the most serious since they had met. "Nichole, you are not a tagalong."

"Then what am I?" Nichole asked. She would have sat up, but that wouldn't have been a smart move. Soda was already too close, trying to sit up for the argument would probably lead to something that would get Soda into trouble with Sandy.

"Um, you're the new girl in town that doesn't know a lot of people, so she hangs out with the guys whom she met by screaming 'no' in the street. How's that?" Soda said.

"That's better… I guess." Nichole said.

"Good." Soda said and pretty much set Nichole free by moving away enough for Nichole to sit up. Then she wished she hadn't. She covered her eyes with her hands.

"What now?" Soda asked.

"You're missing pants, Soda." Nichole said.

"Oh… right." Soda said, and Nichole could hear Soda pull some pants on.

"It's safe now." He said.

Nichole moved her hands away slowly, and when she saw that Soda was all good, she got out of bed, and started to head towards the door.

"Um, aren't you going to change?" Soda asked.

"Nope, don't have anything but the clothes on my back, remember." Nichole said. As she walked down the hall she pulled her hair into a ponytail to hide the fact that she didn't have a hairbrush.

"Hey! Snow White's awake!" Two-bit said when Nichole walked into the main room.

"Why is she Snow White?" Johnny asked.

"Think about it for a second Johnnycake. How many dwarfs did Snow White have?" Two-bit asked.

Johnny thought about it for a second. "It was seven, right?"

"Yep." Two-bit said.

Nichole walked in the kitchen and started looking for the cups.

"What are you looking for?" Darry asked making Nichole jump a little.

"Um, a cup for some water." Nichole said.

"Okay those are right here." Darry said opening a cupboard and handing Nichole a cup.

"Thank you, Darry." Nichole said and poured herself a glass of water from the tap.

"You're welcome. Now who do you want to hang out with today?" Darry asked.

Nichole shrugged. "I don't know. Um, whoever that wants to hang out with me today is fine." She said and started to drink her water

"Whoever takes Nichole today needs to help her get underwear." Soda said walking down the hall.

Nichole almost choked on her water. "Why would you say that?" She asked Soda once her lunges were clear of water.

"It's true, you need them, and there's some hand-me-downs on your bed so we can wash the ones you have on now." Soda said.

"Thanks Sodapop." Nichole said.

Soda nodded and put on his DX hat.

"If that's what you need today, Nichole I can walk you there on my way to work." Darry said.

"Thanks Darry." Nichole said, starting to feel a bit like a child.

"I'll just go get changed quickly." She added and quickly whet to her new room and changed as quickly as she could so Darry wouldn't have to wait too long for her.

The hand-me-downs were what looked like old clothes that were once Soda's. Nichole was glad that there was a belt with the pants because otherwise the pants wouldn't have fit her as well as they did.

When she came out, she found that Darry was still drinking his coffee, and Two-bit and Ponyboy where wrestling on the floor.

"What's that all about?" Nichole asked Johnny who was the closest to her.

"They're trying to figure out who gets the last of the cake." Johnny said.

"Oh, well, um, good for them." Nichole said, and watched.

Two-bit won because of his size advantage on Ponyboy. Everyone walked out of the house as Two-bit ate his prize.

"Um if it's okay with you guys. When I'm done shopping, I can bake you guys a cake." Nichole said.

"Really?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yah. It's the least I could do since you all have been so nice to me, and you guys pretty much put a roof over my head and clothes on my back. I should be helping out around the house." Nichole said.

"Um thanks." Soda said.

"No problem. Is it alright with you Darry?" Nichole asked looking up at the tall man.

"Sure, thanks." Darry said.

As everyone walked everyone started going in different directions usually in groups of two. Soon Nichole was alone with Darry.

When they got to the store, Darry handed Nichole some money for her underwear. "While you're in there, you might also need a hair and tooth brush. Okay." Darry said.

Nichole nodded. "Thank you very much." She said.

"You're welcome." Darry said, and then headed off the rest of his way to work.

Shopping for what Nichole needed didn't take long at all, it was getting back to the house that was the hard part. Nichole could have tried to stop and ask for directions, but she couldn't tell really if anyone would really help her or not. Also Nichole wasn't too sure what to call herself if someone would have decided to help her. It's obvious that Nichole couldn't tell juts some random person that she was a girl that the gang had just met yesterday, and whom also came from the future. So Nichole didn't talk to anyone while she walked around the town for three hours.

Finally Nichole found her way back to the house and went inside. No one was home yet, so she decided to change into her new underwear so the old stuff could get washed along with the clothes that she came in.

Afterwards, Nichole went to the kitchen and got to work on the cake. It wasn't that hard to find a recipe for the chocolate cake, or the stuff that was needed for it because it was clear that the Curtis brothers loved their chocolate cake. The ingredients were in anabundance. While the cake was baking that was when the boys started to come home. First it was Ponyboy and Johnny.

"Something smells good." Ponyboy said was he and Johnny walked in the house.

Nichole walked out from behind the wall separating the living room from the kitchen. "Hey guys." She said with a smile.

"Hey Nichole." Ponyboy said, and Johnny waved smiling too.

The timer dinged, and Nichole whet to pull the cake out of the oven. The two boys followed her.

"Wow." Johnny said his eyes wide as he looked at the cake.

"What? Is there something wrong with it?" Nichole asked placing the cake down on one of those cooling racks to cool.

"No, it just looks like one of the cakes that Mrs. Curtis used to make so far. Right Pony?" Johnny said looking at Ponyboy.

Nichole looked at Ponyboy too who was looking at the cake in shock. "How did you manage to make a cake like my mom used to?" Ponyboy asked.

"Um…I don't know Ponyboy. I just followed the recipe that was on the cupboard there," Nichole pointed at the recipe that was taped to the door of one of the cupboards, "and I did take a cooking class a couple of years ago."

"Wait till Darry and Soda see." Johnny said, and Ponyboy nodded in agreement.

Nichole grabbed a cloth from the sink, and started whipping down the counters to keep her hands busy and so she wouldn't have to face. She would have worked on the dishes, but those where already done.

The rest of the boys slowly started to file in and stared at the cake, they all agreed that it looked like a cake that Mrs. Curtis used to make, especially when it was cooled down enough for Nichole to put icing on it.

Then Nichole lifted it onto the counter and bit her thumb nail wondering what Darry and Soda would do when they came home and saw the cake.

 **Hello Everyone! ScarletKnightTheLostCatBasket here! I would just like to thank everyone who has been reading this so far, and is reviewing, and jumping in this train to go on this journey with me. I would also like to make sure that everyone knows that I do not own** _ **The Outsiders**_ **AT ALL, the story still belongs to S.E. Hinton. Just so you all know so I don't end up getting into any trouble. *nervous laugh***

 **Also the last time that I posted, I got a review about if the book is now blank and if everything that's happening is going to be going on in the actual book after Nichole leaves or something like that. I asked this to Hypervenalaugh (my dear friend and editor) if I should explain this to you all a little bit, and she agreed.**

 **Anyway, Nichole was pulled into the world where the story took place, and when everything that happened in the book is starting to happen now. You see she hasn't been pulled into the book itself, just the world. It would still say in the book that Johnny killed Bob, and he and Ponyboy will have to go to the church, and everything after that will still be the same; but not in the world.**

 **I hope what I just said was helpful, and that I didn't just confuse a lot of people. If I did, I'm sorry.**

 **Again, thank you all for reading, and I hope that everyone is still enjoying that story.**

 **That's all for now, until then I wish you all happy reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

Darry and Soda came home looking tired from a long day at work. Nichole had made dinner for all seven of the boys. She along with Johnny's help had made two pizzas for dinner.

"Who cooked?" Soda asked after everyone said hello.

Nichole shrunck in her chair so no one could see her behind Dally.

"Johnny and Nichole." Steve said around a bite of pizza.

"Thanks Nichole and Johnny." Darry said, he had walked up to the tale and took a slice of pizza from the pan.

"You're welcome." Nichole said and Johnny nodded his mouth was full.

Nichole dug around in her pocket, and handed Darry the leftover money from her shopping.

"What's this?" Darry asked.

"The money that's left over from today. I don't need it so I thought that I should give it back to you." Nichole said.

"Okay, um thanks." Darry said and put it in his pocket.

"Darry," Soda called from the kitchen, "I think we have ghosts."

"There's no such thing as Ghosts, Soda." Darry said taking a bite of pizza.

"Well then maybe I have completely lost it. Come in here, and lets' see if you can see what I see." Soda said, and by the sound of his voice, Soda was in total shock.

Darry sighed, and walked into the kitchen, "What that?" Darry almost yelled.

Nichole shrunck deeper in her chair.

Darry came out of the kitchen holding the cake Nichole had made. "Who made this?" He asked looking around at everyone indivigually. When His gase met Two-bit's, Two-bit nodded at Nichole, who was wishing that she could sink through the floor.

Darry looked at Nichole. "How did you?" he asked in a soft tone.

Soda had walked out of the kitchen just in time for Two-bit to show Darry who had made the cake, and now was staring at Nichole in shock.

"I don't know. All I did was bake the way I learned how in cooking class back home. It may look like your mom's baking, but I dout that it'll taste like it. I'm sorry about shocking you guys like that there was a ghost in your house." Nichole said.

"There's no need to be sorry Nichole. That's just how you were tought to bake." Darry said with a kind smile.

Nichole smiled back a little nervously.

After the shock had worn off, Darry and Soda were eating just like the rest of the boys, but Nichole had lost her apatite, she didn't want to get the gangs hopes up that the cake would taste just like Mrs. Curtis's cakes had, and being sure that she will be disappointing them made Nichole sick to her stomach.

No one seemed to notise that Nichole wasn't eating till they were all finished, and Nichole started to gather up the dishes.

"Nichole are you alright?" Soda asked looking at Nichole.

Nichole just shrugged, and took the plates into the kitchen. Johnny followed her.

"Didn't you like it?" Johnny asked.

"No, Johnny that's not it. It was good, I just don't feel so well that's all." Nichole said.

Johnny gently placed a hand on Nichole's forehead. "You don't have a fever." He said. There was concern on Johnny's face.

"I'll be fine Johnny don't worry." Nichole said, and turned to face the dishes, and got to work on them.

"I don't think so. If you're not feeling good, you should probably go rest." Johnny said.

Nichole sighed. "It'll pass Johnny."

Johnny left the room, probably to get one of the guys to get a second opinion.

This time Dally walked in. "Turn around." He told Nichole.

Nichole did as she was told, and Dally checked her forehead for himself. "Why don't you feel well if you don't have a fever?" He asked.

Nichole shrugged not willing to tell anyone about her thinking that she'll disappoint them.

Dally gently grabbed Nichole's rist and tode her into the living room where everyone mines Steve and Soda were. Steven and Soda were taking their girlfriends to the game.

"What are we going to do with her?" Dally asked.

"What do you mean?" Two-bit asked.

"Nichole said that she doesn't feel well, and she doesn't have a fever. But she refuses to go lie down." Dally said.

"Nichole, if you don't feel well you should go lie down and rest before it gets worse." Darry said.

"Fine. If that's what everyone thinks I should do then I will." Nichole said, and head to her room even though she was sure that resting wasn't going to help the nerves in her stomach.

[…]

Nichole lay in bed and watched the sealing. After about an hour Johnny came to check on her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked when he poked his head into the room.

"The same." Nichole said, not facing Johnny.

"Is something bothering you? Sometimes that makes a person's stomach feel bad." Johnny said.

Nichole sat up, and looked at Johnny. "Can you keep a secret?" she asked.

"Sure I can." Johnny said walking into the room, and sat next to Nichole.

"I'm scared that I'm going to disappoint you guys if the cake doesn't taste like Mrs. Curtis's. And on top of that I'm home sick." Nichole said.

Johnny thought about this information for a moment. "Nichole, I'm sure that it'll be alright if the cake won't taste like Mrs. Curtis's cake, because it was made by you, and that's all that matters okay." He said.

Nichole nodded.

"And as for the being home sick part. It's okay to be home sick since you're far away from home, and you don't really know what to do since this isn't even your time period. And you never know maybe the book will take you back home once this is all over." Johnny said.

"You really think so?" Nichole asked.

"Yah, since you said yesterday that you came here so you could stop something from happening, and I guess by the time that the story is supposed to be over, you'll go home. Then you'll be with your family and friends again." Johnny said.

Nichole smiled a little bit. "Thanks Johnny."

Johnny smiled back. "No problem."

Nichole gave Johnny a hug. "You really helped." She said.

Johnny hugged Nichole back. "I'm glad that I was."

Nichole pulled away, and they walked out of the room together.

As the hour got later, and later the boys started fialling out, but Johnny came back since he saw his parents fighting through the front window of his house.

Ponyboy got blankets and pillows out of a closet, and told Johnny that the two of them could have a camp out in the living room. This made Nichole smile, she found it really cute.

"I hope you guys have fun." Nichole said, and started to head to her room. Darry had already gone to bed, and Nichole thought that it would be a good idea for her to start getting ready for bed too.

"We will." Ponyboy said.

Johnny went over to Nichole and gave her a hug. "Sleep well, Nichole." He said.

Nichole smiled and hug Johnny back. "You too, Johnny."

Before Johnny and Nichole let go Soda came home with a smile on his face, though the smile fell when he saw the sight in front of him. Nichole was facing the door, and saw Soda's face change it confused her. Why would Johnny hugging her upset Soda even though he already had a girlfriend whom he loved. Nichole pushed that thought aside thinking that maybe it was just a surprise to Soda.

"Hey, Soda. How was the game?" Ponyboy asked.

Soda smiled at Ponyboy. "It was fun. Our team won." He said.

When Johnny heard Soda he let go of Nichole, and welcomed Soda home too.

"That's great." Nichole said with a smile.

"Yah." Soda agreed.

Nichole headed down the hall to her room to get her new toothbrush.

"Are you okay?" Soda asked from behind her.

Nichole turned around and saw that Soda was walking in that direction too. "Yah. I'm just getting my tooth brush. Why?"

"Well you didn't eat very much at dinner, and just now I saw you hugging Johnny." Soda said.

"I'm fine, and Johnny just gave me a hug to say good night that's all." Nichole said.

Soda raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think he did that?"

"I don't know. He's trying to be my friend maybe. And Soda it's really none of your bisnes what I do with the rest of the gang. I can hug whomever I want." Nichole said, and walked off to her room to get her tooth brush, muttering about nosy men.

After Nichole was done cleaning her teeth she went to the living room and gave Ponyboy a hug. She did this so he wouldn't feel left out, and to prove a point to Soda even though, Soda wasn't there in the room.

The hug surprised Ponyboy, but he did hug Nichole back and said good night.

Then Nichole headed to her room to get some sleep. She walked passed Soda and Ponyboy's room and saw that the door was wide open and Soda wasn't there. This confused Nichole even though she knew that it was none of her bisnes he might have gone to the bathroom or something.

Nichole walked into her room, and saw a shadow in the darkness. The shadow scared her, and she turned on the light with shaking fingers thinking that it was just her mind playing tricks on her and the shadow would go away when the light turned on. In the light, Nichole saw that it was juts Soda standing in the middle of the room.

"Soda what are you doing, standing there in the dark? You almost gave me a heart attack!" Nichole said annoyed.

"I wanted to say that I was sorry about being nosy. You're right it really isn't any of my buisnes what you do with the guys." Soda said.

"Um, it's no problem." Nichole said not really too sure what to say.

"I was just conserned about you that's all." Soda said.

"Because I was hugging Johnny." Nichole said.

"Yah, and I thought that maybe something was up with you, and you needed some comforte. Like maybe you were homesick or something." Soda said.

"I was homesick today. And Johnny made me feel better. But I think that this time he hugged me because he's trying to be my friend. And if you really want to know why Johnny's been hugging me, you can go ask him yourself you know." Nichole said. She was getting really tired, and she really didn't want to talk about this with Soda.

It was like when her brother would come pick Nichole up from school, and he saw her getting a hug from one of her friends. On the way home he would ask Nichole all sorts of questions especially if it was a guy who was hugging her. That had only happened once when Nichole was 14. Her friend had just gotten dumped by his girlfriend, and he needed a hug from a friend. Nichole was the only friend around that was comfortable giving hugs to friends. And right now talking about Nichole hugging Johnny with Soda made her feel like she was being hounded by her older brother again.

"Yah I know. Again I just wanted to say I was sorry." Soda said.

"It's fine Soda really." Nichole said.

Soda nodded and walked over to Nichole, he tried to give her a hug, but Nichole gently pushed him away. Hurt passed across Soda's face.

"Sorry Soda, but you have a girlfriend and I don't want you to get into any trouble with her." Nichole said.

Soda nodded in understanding. "Right, that's probably a good call. But if you do leave. I will give you a hug before you go." He said.

Nichole smiled a little bit. "That'll be nice."

Soda smiled and left the room.

Nichole stood there for a moment, and then went to bed.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Nichole woke up, and found that she needed a drink. So she got up and started to walk to the kitchen for a glass of water.

"Why did you hug Nichole last night?" Soda's voice wisped from the kitchen.

Nichole froze, and didn't dare move or even breathe. Normally she wouldn't listen in on other people's conversations, but no one can really help it when it's them who's being talked about.

"Well I wanted to. Isn't that why you hug people." Johnny answered, and there was a sound of the refrigerator opening.

"Yeah, but you don't normally hug people unless they're upset. And Nichole didn't seem upset." Soda said.

"She seemed upset when she came to say good night after she brushed her teeth." Johnny said.

"That one was my fault, but don't change the subject." Soda said.

The refrigerator closed again, "What did you do to make her upset?" Johnny asked.

"I started to ask her questions about why you two were hugging when I came in." Soda admitted.

"So you were being nosy. I don't blame Nichole for getting upset. Why were you being nosy anyway? It's not like you're her father or anything like that." Johnny said.

"Someone has to be looking out for her. Since she's all alone here." Soda said.

"Soda, we're all looking out for her. That's why I gave her a hug yesterday. She was feeling homesick." Johnny stopped talking abruptly like he'd just remembered that was a secret. "Don't tell Nichole I told you that." He added.

"I had no idea that she was homesick." Soda said.

"Why didn't you think of that? Soda she's far away from home, and she misses her family. Wouldn't you be homesick too in her situation?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah I guess I would be." Soda said. After a moment he added, "Was that the only time that you hugged her? When she was homesick?"

"No, I hugged her when you walked in the door too. I hugged her that time because I wanted to. She gives good hugs." Johnny said.

"I wouldn't know. She doesn't hug me." Soda said, and Nichole could hear a hint of sadness in his tone.

"How come?" Johnny asked he sounded confused.

"She said that she doesn't want to get me into trouble with Sandy." Soda said.

"What makes her think that a hug will get you into trouble with Sandy? It's not like you'd be cheating on her. It's just a hug." Johnny said.

"That's what I thought last night when I tried to give her a hug then. But when she pushed me away and told me that. I thought that maybe it counted as cheating were she comes from." Soda said.

"Maybe. But you never know until you ask her about it. How about today you try hugging her, and say that it's not cheating if it's just a hug." Johnny said.

"Alright. Maybe I will." Soda said, and he sounded a little better now.

"Um, just don't try and kiss her." Johnny said.

Nichole's face started to feel warm because she thought that a kiss from Soda wouldn't be so bad, if he wasn't already going out with Sandy.

"Why would I do that? That really would get me into trouble with Sandy." Soda said.

"She's very attractive, and I thought that I might give it a try." Johnny said.

"But I thought that you were just trying to be her friend by hugging her." Soda said.

"I am, but I guess a little kiss on the cheek won't hurt would it?" Johnny said.

"No, I guess not. Just don't force yourself on her." Soda said.

"You really think I'd do that?" Johnny said and this time he sounded disgusted. Like the mere thought of someone forcing themselves on anyone was sick. And Nichole could agree with him.

Nichole thought that she heard enough, and started to very quietly move back down the hall, forgetting why she had even gotten up in the first place.

Nichole felt guilty for eavesdropping on Johnny and Soda, but she would just have to make sure that the two of them never found out. She pushed aside the conversation that she listened to in the kitchen and went back to bed. She didn't go back to sleep though since she knew that if Soda was up, then he would want his clothes soon too.

Nichole then thought that it would probably be a good idea to start getting ready for the day in the meantime. She picked up a pair of pants that Ponyboy gave to Nichole yesterday, and a shirt from Johnny. They both had said that they didn't where those anymore so they thought that Nichole would make better use out of them.

The clothes she had gotten from the two boys fit Nichole a lot better than the ones she had gotten from Soda. Though Nichole did need the belt for the pants again. Once she was done Nichole sat on the bed with her new hairbrush and started to brush through the knots in her hair.

Soda poked his head in, and did a bit of a double take at seeing Nichole awake already.

Nichole smiled, amused at seeing Soda's reaction. "Morning."

"Uh, morning. May I have the room for a sec?" Soda asked.

"Sure." Nichole said and went to leave the room her hair brush in hand.

"Um, before you go, Nichole." Soda said stopping her by putting his arm across her path.

"What is it?" Nichole asked looking up at Soda confused.

Then the next thing that Nichole knew, and that she was in Soda's arms and he was hugging her tightly. "A hug won't get me in trouble with Sandy." Soda whispered in Nichole's ear.

Nichole sighed and hugged Soda back. She found that she didn't want to let go, and when Soda did let go, Nichole thought that it was too short of a hug, but she smiled at Soda anyway.

"Um, I'll let you get dressed now." Nicole said and left the room.

Nichole continued to brush her hair on the floor of the living room since Ponyboy was still asleep on the couch.

"Morning, Nichole." Johnny said sitting next to Nichole.

"Morning, Johnny." Nichole replied with a smile, she put her hair brush down in front of her.

"You missed a spot." Johnny said pointing to a spot in Nichole's hair.

"Could you get it please? I don't know where you mean." Nichole asked.

"Sure." Johnny said. He picked up the brush and gently started brushing the spot in Nichole's hair that she'd missed.

The door opened, and Dally walked in and looked at what Johnny was doing. "Johnny, what are you doing?"

"Nichole missed a spot. So I'm getting it." Johnny said.

"I see." Dally said. He walked over to the couch, and kicked the end of it.

"Rise and shine, Pony." Dally said in a teasing tone.

Pony just rolled over, and groaned. "Five more minutes." He muttered.

"Hey Johnny, you have a pen?" Dally asked.

Johnny shook his head, and when Dally looked at Nichole, she shook her head too.

Dally then walked into the kitchen, rummaged around in there for a moment, then came out holding a marker.

"What should be put on the kid, Johnnycake?" Dally asked grinning.

Johnny stopped brushing for a moment and thought. "We drew a moustache last time." He said.

"Why don't you guys just try tickling him awake?" Nichole asked.

"He bit me last time." Dally said, and showed Nichole one of his hands, and put down a finger to pretend that Ponyboy had bitten it off.

"Ouch." Nichole said playing along.

"I know." Dally said smiling.

"The why not say that you're going to draw something that'll keep girls away from him if he doesn't get up." Nichole suggested.

"Like what?" Johnny asked.

Nichole shrugged. "I don't know, what don't girls like here?"

"No one's drawing anything on his face." Darry said coming out of the hall.

"Fine." Dally said, and put the pen down.

Darry walked over to the couch and started to tickle his little brother. Ponyboy laughed, and rolled around trying to get away, as a result he fell off, and ended up falling sprawled out across Nichole's lap.

"Sorry." Ponyboy said getting off Nichole.

"It is fine, Pony. It could have been a lot worse." Nichole said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Ponyboy said.

Two-bit walked through the door then. "I have big news!" he called into the house.

"You got a job." Darry guessed.

"Nope. Why would I do that?' Two-bit asked.

"What's the news then if you didn't get a job?" Dally asked.

"There's going to be a rumble between the greasers and socs next week." Two-bit said, a grin on his face.

"Sweet!" Johnny cheered.

"We'll finally be able to stick it to them!" Ponyboy chimed in.

Soda walked into the room then, and asked what was going on. When Dally told him, Soda was cheering along with the rest of them. The same thing happened when Steve came too.

Nichole smiled at their enthusiasm though inside, Nichole didn't feel so good. Because the night of the rumble was the same night that both Dally and Johnny died. Though Nichole knew that she didn't have much to worry about now because, if she hadn't stopped Dally, Johnny, and Ponyboy from going to the drive in movie; both Ponyboy and Johnny would be in Windrixville by now and Dally would be covering for them.

[…]

"Nichole can you hand me that wrench?" Soda asked from under the car.

"Sure." Nichole said picking up the wrench from the tool box and handing it to Soda's outstretched hand.

It had been a day since Two-bit had told everyone about the rumble that was coming up, and now most of the other boys were at school, while Nichole and Soda were at the DX station fixing a car. Nichole had gone to work with Darry for a trial run the day before, but Nichole just sat around bored while Darry worked up on the roof of a building, and she didn't really want to do that again; so she was hanging out with Soda.

"How's it coming?" Nichole asked, looking at the part of Soda that she could see, which was just his legs and sneakers.

"Good. I think I've almost got it." Soda said and then crawled out from under the car.

"That's good." Nichole said with a smile.

Soda smiled too, and walked over to the driver's side of the car, and opened the door. "Cross your fingers." He said, and Nichole did as she was told.

Soda turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life.

Nichole cheered and clapped her hands. She didn't really know what had been wrong with the car, but according to Soda the car hadn't been starting right away like it was supposed to.

Soda grinned, and took a bow as if he were a performer on a stage that had just did a brilliant performance. "Thank you, thank you." He said.

Nichole laughed at that, but kept on clapping.

"What's the clapping about?" Dally asked from the door to the garage. It must have been lunch time because all of the guys that had been at school were here for a little bit.

"Soda just got the car running." Nichole said with a smile.

"He always does." Steve said.

"Yeah, but I've never seen it done before." Nichole pointed out.

"Good point." Steve said.

Johnny sat on the floor next to Nichole, and smiled a little bit. Nichole smiled back and gently rubbed at a pen mark on his face.

"Did you fall asleep in class?" Nichole asked.

"Yeah, and the soc sitting next to me drew a dick on my face. I thought I got it all off." Johnny said.

"Not really you just missed a spot." Nichole said. Realizing that juts rubbing the spot wasn't working, she wetted her thumb and started rubbing the spot again.

"That looks so cute." Dally said in a teasing tone.

Johnny stuck his tongue out at Dally. "She'd probably do the same to you too if this happened to you." He said.

Dally shook his head. "I wouldn't let her."

"Would you rather walk around all day with a dick drawn on your face?" Nichole asked raising an eyebrow at Dally.

Dally thought about it for a second. "No, but I think that I can get it off all by myself."

"So can I." Johnny said.

"Then why is Nichole working on it?" Two-bit asked.

"Because he just missed a spot." Nichole said.

"Therefore Johnny can't really get it off himself." Steve said laughing a little.

"Hey, you try getting pen off your face with just water, and no rage to help get it off." Johnny said.

"There you're good now." Nichole said removing her thumb.

Johnny smiled at Nichole. "Thank you very much."

"You're very welcome." Nichole said smiling back, glad that she could help.

Johnny hadn't tried to kiss Nichole yet even though Nichole was sure that he would probably end up trying really soon, and Nichole wasn't too sure what she would do about it.


	6. Chapter 6

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going back to school now to get me an education." Two-bit said walking back-words out of the DX station holding a thumb over his shoulder.

"Since when do you care about that?" Ponyboy asked starting to follow him.

Two-bit smiled, "I was just kidding about me getting an education. I was talking about the rest of you."

"Oh, that's good. I thought for a second that we were dealing with someone that really wasn't you." Ponyboy said.

Dally lit a cigarette, and started walking out the door. "You comin' Johnnycake?" He asked looking over this shoulder at Johnny and Nichole both still sitting on the floor.

Nichole looked at Johnny who looked like he was thinking about something.

"Hey! Earth to Johnny!" Dally called, and Johnny jumped, then looked around eyes wide.

"Yeah, Dal?"

"It's time to get back to school." Dally said.

"Oh, right." Johnny said and started to get up, but then hesitated; he looked at Nichole, and then kissed her cheek. Before Nichole, or anyone could do or say anything Johnny stood up and ran after Dally.

Even though Nichole knew that the kiss was coming, it still shocked her, because she never really believed that Johnny would actually do it. So she just sat there on the floor eyes wide staring after the sixteen year old.

Dally looked just as shocked as Nichole was. His mouth was hanging open and he had dropped his cigarette which made a little line of smoke start to reach towards the sky.

Neither of them noticed Steve and Soda. Steve was looking at Soda with a confused look on his face since Soda was squeezing a wrench so tightly in one hand that his knuckles were white, and his hand was shaking. For a second it looked like Soda was mad at Johnny. Steve must have thought that he should talk about it with Soda later since the time and place didn't really seem right, because he just patted Soda's shoulder gently, and started walking towards Dally.

"Come on Dal. The kids are going to beat us back to school at this point." Steve said, stomping out the cigarette and started to steer Dally away.

This snapped both Dally and Nichole out of their shock, but not before Soda kicked the tire of the car he was working on and walked to the front of the station. So when Nichole finally came to herself again, she was all alone with no company but a car.

[…]

Nichole found that being alone for a little bit wasn't such a bad idea. It gave her time to collect herself, and really think about what had just happened. Nichole started to think about it while she started to pick up the tools from around the car, and put them back were Soda showed her they belonged at the beginning of the day.

Johnny had kissed her cheek, but Nichole didn't really feel anything from it. She had a couple of kisses in her life, but usually she felt something like a bit of a spark of attraction. She didn't feel that at all when Johnny kissed her. The only thing that she felt towards Johnny was a friendship, or maybe something that was a bit like a brother, and sister sort of thing. Surely Johnny felt the same at least after what had happened.

When Soda came back he didn't really look like his happy-go-lucky self.

"Is everything alright?" Nichole asked.

"Yeah, fine." Soda said putting the wrench back where it belonged.

"Are you sure? You don't seem like yourself." Nichole said getting really concerned about Soda.

Soda didn't answer. He just shrugged and pulled out a new pack of cigarretes. He pulled one out and lit it.

Nichole knew that Soda didn't smoke all that often, but she couldn't remember the reasons that Soda had when he did smoke. She didn't ask Soda why he started to smoke, because he looked like he really didn't want to talk. So Nichole just ended up going back to her spot on the floor next to the car.

Nichole and Soda didn't talk much for the rest of the day, and Nichole had gotten bored, so she decided to pull out _The Outsiders_ and have a look at her baseball cars. The cards looked a lot different than when they did the night before she came here. Back when she had first made the cards, Nichole had printed out pictures of each one of the actors in their costumes for when they made the movie for the book. But this time when Nichole looked at the cards, she saw that the pictures had changed. Now the pictures looked a lot more like the boy in the book.

"Interesting." Nichole said to herself slowly turning Dally's baseball card over and over in her hands to see if the picture would go back to being Matt Dillon, but it didn't.

It was then that there was a knock on that garage door to the DX station.

Nichole looked up and saw a girl with blond hair and blue eyes. She also had a smile on her face. She was looked at Soda.

"Hey, Soda." The girl said walking over to Soda. He was sitting in a car next to one of the big toolboxes smoking his third cigarette. He looked up and smiled at the girl.

"Hey Sandy." He said standing up and gave the girl a kiss.

Nichole looked down at the cards in her hands. Soda's picture was smiling up at her. She stuck her tongue out at it and turned it over. Then she put the cards back in the book, and the book into the back pocket of her pants.

Nichole then stood up slowly, and started to sneak her way towards the door that split the front of the station from the back. But Nichole wasn't sneaky enough, because when Nichole had her hand on the door handle, Soda and Sandy had come up for air and Sandy saw her.

"How's that?" Sandy asked, and Nichole froze.

"Um… She's Nichole… my cousin from out of town. She's staying with us for a while." Soda said quickly.

" _Cousin. Nice Soda."_ Nichole thought.

"It's very nice to meet you, Nichole." Sandy said with a smile as she walked over to Nichole holding a hand out to shake.

"Um, you too." Nichole said with a small smile of her own, she took Sandy's offer and shook her hand. Nichole had never thought that she would ever get to meet Sandy. Nichole thought that she would be able to go home before she would have ever had to meet the women that broke Soda's heart. The thought of Sandy hurting Soda made Nichole not like Sandy all too much, and she accidentally squeezed her hand too hard.

Sandy's smile wavered a little, but didn't make a move to tell Nichole to let go.

Nichole let go when she realised what she was doing. "Well um, I'll get going on home so you guy can have some quality time." She said with a smile pasted on her face.

"Nichole, are you sure you can get home alright? Don't you want to wait for one of the guys can take you back?" Soda asked.

Nichole was already walking into the front of the station. "I made it home on my own once before without help. I can do it again." She said and on the last word she pushed open the front door.

If Soda tried to protest, Nichole didn't hear it. The door had already closed behind her, and Nichole was stating to walk towards the direction she was pretty sure that lead back to the Curtis house.

Even though the sun was going down, Nichole found her way back to the house way better than she had the first time she had tried to find it.

By the time Nichole had reached the house, the sun was down and with it her anger at Sandy was gone too, even though Nichole was sure that the anger would come back if she ever saw that girl ever again.

"I'm back." Nichole called into the house as she opened the door to the house. The lights were on so she thought that she could do that.

Darry was sitting in his chair reading the paper, while Ponyboy sat at the kitchen table doing some homework.

"Welcome home." Darry said glancing up from the paper, and Ponyboy just nodded in Nichole's general direction.

"Thanks." Nichole said with a real smile this time, and walked into the kitchen.

"Uh, where's Soda?" Darry asked actually looking around him.

Nichole shrugged. "I think he's with Sandy. She came by the DX station a while ago. So I thought it would be a good idea for me to leave." She found an apple and started to wash it in the sink.

"So you met Sandy?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yep." Nichole said taking a bite of apple.

"What do you think of her?" Ponyboy asked, and Nichole started to remember that Ponyboy thought that Sandy was a really great girl.

Nichole shrugged as she chewed on her apple. "She's alright." She said after she swallowed.

"So what does she think you are to us?" Darry asked walking into the kitchen/dining room.

"Soda told Sandy that I was your cousin from out of town, who's staying with you guys for a while." Nichole said.

Darry nodded. "That seems like a good story." And Ponyboy agreed.

"Yeah." Nichole said.

After she finished her apple, Nichole went to bed. She was about to fall asleep when her bedroom door flew open and her light turned on.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Soda practically yelled at Nichole.

Nichole was momentarily blinded by the sudden light in her eyes. She sat up slowly and tried to get her eyes to adjust.

"What are you yelling at me about now?" She asked.

"How you just decide to walk home all by yourself!" Soda yelled.

"Well, I wasn't going to wait around while you sucked face with your girlfriend." Nichole yelled back. She stood on the bed which gave her a few inches on Soda.

"You could have just waited for one of the guys to come get you." Soda said fuming.

"And how the hell would they know to come get me? Huh. You guys don't have cellphones! I don't even know if they have even been invented yet!" Nichole yelled.

This fact cuts Soda short, and he stopped yelling for a second, but only a second. "You still shouldn't have left to find the house on your own!"

"Any why not! Where I come from girls walk alone at night all the time, and most of them come home perfectly fine! Why are you treating me like a child?" Nichole demands.

"Because you _are_ a child!" Soda yells.

"That's it!" Nichole yells jumping off the bed. She grabs the book from the nightstand, and started walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Soda asked following her.

"I'm going home! Where you're not yelling at me all the time. You guys can take care of yourselves for the rest of the week and a bit." Nichole said.

As she stormed down the hall, Ponyboy and Darry opened their bedroom doors confused.

"How are you going to go home? You don't even know how you got here?" Soda asked grabbing Nichole's arm stopping her right before she reached the door.

"I'll figure it out." Nichole said and pulled her arm out of Soda's grasp.

Nichole yanked the door open and walked out into the night. She stood on the sidewalk and looked up into the sky.

"I want to go home now." Nichole said to the night air.

Nothing happened while Nichole stood outside in the cold night air with all three of the Curtis brothers watching her.

"Um, why are you guys fighting?" Ponyboy asked.

"For peat's sake you two are starting to sound like the Cades. Nichole, from the looks of things, you're not going home tonight. So please come back inside, and we'll all talk about this." Darry said in his stern tone.

Nichole sighed and walked back inside along with the brothers who all stopped in the living room. She didn't think that talking about this would help that much.

"Alright. Let's fix things up." Darry said, "First of all how did this start?"

Neither Nichole nor Soda spoke. Nichole wasn't even looking in Soda's direction.

Darry sighed. "Alright then. Let's try this some other way. Soda you'll tell your side of the story. Then Nichole will, and hopefully with the two stories, we'll be able to work this all out."

Soda sighed, the started telling his side of the story. "After school, Sandy came by the DX station for a bit. Sandy and Nichole met, and I thought that Nichole was going to stay and either wait for me to walk home with her, or for one of the guys to come get her. But instead Nichole walked out and walked home all by herself when it was getting dark. When I came home I decided to give her a bit of a talking to, to make sure that she didn't do this again. And probably end up getting hurt this time. That was when she started yelling, and ran out of the house trying to get back to her own time."

"Alright. Now Nichole let's hear your side of this." Darry said.

"Well I think that the problem started earlier in the day. After Pony, Dally, Steve, Two-bit, and Johnny whet back to school after lunch. Soda was acting really not like himself. He bought a pack of cigarettes and started smoking. Also he was acting like he was upset about something. And when I asked him about it, he didn't answer. We didn't talk for the rest of the day, then Sandy comes by and starts kissing Soda. I tried to leave to give them some privacy. But Soda wanted me to stay for some reason, because I'm sure that he wouldn't have really wanted me to hang out with Sandy since I have _no idea_ what to talk about with girls from here. I decided that it would be a good idea for me to head on home because Soda was obviously very busy with Sandy, and since it was getting late, I was sure the no one would be coming by any time soon. So I decided to find my own way home. As you all can see I made it home perfectly fine on my own for the _second_ time since I first came here. And then right when I was about to fall asleep, Soda comes in the room yelling at me. So I started yelling back, then I decided to try and go home. But apparently that's not happening." Nichole said.

"Okay. Soda why were you smoking? You hardly ever smoke." Darry asked looking at his younger brother.

"Something was bothering me, so I thought I'd have a smoke." Soda said calmly.

"And would you like to share with us, what was bothering you?" Darry asked.

Soda shook his head no.

Darry sighed again. "Alright. Here's what's going to happen. Nichole you are not to walk home on your own when it's getting dark outside, because something bad could happen to you. And Soda next time you get upset with Nichole don't start yelling at her, since girls really don't like it when they are being yelled at in the middle of the night. Also as it turns out, Nichole really doesn't like it so she tries to go home without knowing how to. Now am I clear?" Darry said looking at both Nichole and Soda, who both nodded.

"Alright, not off to bed, all three of you." Darry said, and the three teenagers started marching off to their rooms as if they were all scolded children who were sent to bed without supper.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning started out as usual. Soda softly knocked on the door, and Nichole slowly started to wake up.

"You know you won't scare me if you knock a little louder." Was Nichole's morning greeting to Soda.

"I'll note that for tomorrow." Soda said walking into the room.

Nichole was about to put the blanket over her head, but Soda stopped her gently placing a hand on her arm.

"Um, I would like to apologise about last night." He said, "Darry's right. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Also I shouldn't have called you a child."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about running off like that. I had no idea how bad things can be at night." Nichole said.

"To be honest, no one really does until something happens." Soda said.

"I see. Well I'm going to put this blanket over my head now so you can get dressed." Nichole said, and puts the blanket over her head.

Nichole then heard Soda chuckle a little bit.

"Alright." Soda said and the sound of the closet opening followed.

"So, um, mind if I ask what you think of Sandy?" Soda asked.

Nichole thought to choose her words carefully to prevent another fight. "She seems… nice."

"Um, do you think you would like to be friends with her?" Soda asked.

Nichole sighed. "Uh, not really because I wouldn't really know what to talk about with her. I have only been here for a few days, also aren't I supposed to only be visiting? Wouldn't my being friends with Sandy sort of tell her that you lied to her?"

"Good point." Soda said.

"So… what does she think of me?" Nichole asked.

"She thinks that you squeeze too hard when you shake hands." Soda said.

"She told you about that?" Nichole asked a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, and may I know why? I'm not mad or anything. I would just like to know, and I promise that I won't tell Sandy." Soda said.

"I can't tell you why, because it's about something that happened in the book, and I don't know if it'll actually happen yet." Nichole said.

"I see, but you will tell me when it does happen, or if it doesn't happen and passes by right?" Soda asked.

"We'll see." Nichole said.

"Alright. I'm good now." Soda said and Nichole pushed back the blanket.

"Um, are you ready to tell any of us what was bothering you yesterday?" Nichole asked getting up, and starting to make her bed.

"No, because I don't really know why this bothered me yesterday. Maybe I will tell once I know." Soda said.

Nichole nodded in understanding. "That seems fair."

"Yeah. Well, see you in a few." Soda said and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Nichole got ready for the day as usual, and then headed out to the living room where the guys were hanging out.

Johnny walked up to Nichole, and he actually was looking like he was shy. "Nichole, can I talk to you for a moment?" He asked.

"Sure, what about?" Nichole asked.

"It's about what happened at lunch yesterday." Johnny whispered so only Nichole could hear him.

"Oh, right. Um, let's talk outside." Nichole said thinking that would probably be the only place where the others wouldn't overhear them talk.

Johnny nodded and led the way outside. Once the door was closed behind them they stopped walking, and looked at each other, neither one of them too sure how to start.

"I'm sorry about that." Johnny said looking down at his shoes.

"Why are you sorry? It was only a little kiss on the cheek." Nichole said.

"Because I didn't ask you first, and because I didn't really feel anything." Johnny said still not looking at Nichole.

"Johnny, look at me." Nichole said gently lifting Johnny's chin with one hand to get him to look at her.

"It's perfectly fine, because guys do that all the time where I come from. And sometimes there's something and other times there's not." Nichole said.

"I see. Did you feel anything?" Johnny asked.

Nichole shook her head. "No, I'm sorry Johnny."

"It's okay." Johnny said.

"Are we still friends?" Nichole asked.

Johnny smiled a little, "Yeah."

Nichole smiled, and gave Johnny a hug. "I'm glad, because it's really nice to have a friend as sweet, and as kind as you."

Johnny hugged Nichole back. "You're the same kind of friend too."

"Hey, are you two ready to go?" Steve asked opening the door and calling out to Nichole and Johnny.

They let go of each other and nodded.

"Then let's all go!" Two-bit yelled running past Steve and jumping off the porch. He hit the ground running, yelling "Off to school!" And the rest of the guys that were heading to school followed.

Nichole couldn't help laughing a little.

The day was a little better than yesterday, but Sandy did come back to the DX station after school again, but it was a little more bearable this time, because the rest of the guys came too. Steve had to work today, and the others just wanted to goof off.

Nichole joined in with her friends, and they left the station So Steve and Soda could work and Sandy could watch.

"So what do you guy want to do?" Nichole asked. Two-bit turned around and started to walk back-words so he could face Nichole while he walked.

"Well, I thought that we all could go hunt down some action, and maybe get drunk a little bit." Two-bit said.

"That sounds like fun, Two-bit; but I don't drink." Nichole said shaking her head.

"Fine then, I'll get drunk, and the rest of you can have fun while not being drunk." Two-bit said.

"I don't mind getting drunk, and it's also not a very good idea to drink alone." Dally said grinning.

"True-that." Two-bit said reaching up for a high-five from Dally, who took the offer.

"Why don't the three of use go do something a little less dangerous?" Ponyboy suggested, talking to Johnny and Nichole.

"What do you have in mind Pony?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know." Ponyboy said.

"Why don't we find a copy of _Gone with the Wind_ and read it aloud for a while?" Nichole suggested.

"Where did you get that idea from?" Johnny asked.

"Well you two read it in the book to kill some time while you were board, and you two really enjoyed it. So, I thought we could go do that, but that's only if you wanted to." Nichole said.

"It sounds better than wondering around with nothing really to do." Ponyboy said.

"I agree. Besides, didn't you say once that you really wanted to read the book after we saw the movie?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I did because the book is usually better than the movie." Ponyboy said.

"Then let's go get a copy." Nichole said.

The three of them went to a corner store and got a paper-back copy of _Gone with the Wind_. Then they went to the vacant lot and, Ponyboy started reading it aloud while Johnny and Nichole got a small fire going to keep warm while the sun was going down.

It was really nice just hanging out with Ponyboy and Johnny like this, it was like they had all been friends for years, but about half way through the fifth chapter things changed. Ponyboy stopped, and started at the fire.

"What is it, Ponyboy?" Nichole asked.

"Nothing, I just pictured something and for a second and tasted bologna in my mouth." Ponyboy said.

"Yeah me too. I think I saw the inside of an abandoned church." Johnny said.

Nichole's eyes widened, and looked down at _Gone with the Wind_. For a moment she didn't really think that her idea on reading the two of them reading the book was such a good idea any more.

"Um, you guys just might be getting tired. Maybe we all should go get some sleep. Johnny, come on over to our place and sleep there." Nichole said. She stood up, and started to stomp out the little fire. Then she gently pulled each of the two boys to their feet, then towed then back to the house holding each one of their wrists in her two hands.

When they got to the house, Nichole started getting the living room ready for Johnny to sleep in.

"Pony, do you want to hang out with Johnny out here tonight?" Nichole asked.

"Uh, sure. Here I'll help you with that." Ponyboy said, and started to help Nichole arrange the blankets and pillows.

Then Nichole went to her room, and came back with a blanket and pillow of her own.

"Don't you want to sleep in your own bed?" Johnny asked.

Nichole shook her head. "Is it okay if I sleep out here with you guys?"

"Yeah it's fine with us. Is everything okay?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yeah, it's perfectly fine." Nichole said.

Though she was sure that everything wasn't fine at all. Nichole knew that she now had to keep a close eye on both Ponyboy and Johnny for a little while since then seeing the church on Jay Mountain was not a good thing at all.

Ponyboy and Johnny slept through the night just fine, but Nichole didn't sleep at all, she was too worried about her friends to sleep at all. Every few minutes, Nichole would sit up and look at both of the boys to make sure that they were still there, and Nichole also looked carefully at Johnny's skin on his hands and face to make sure that there wasn't any burn marks there. She didn't know how Ponyboy and Johnny started to taste bologna and see the church.

At about two in the morning Ponyboy woke with a start, and Nichole went over to the couch to see what was wrong.

"Are you okay?" Nichole whispered so she wouldn't wake Johnny.

Ponyboy shook his head, shaking.

"Nightmare?" Nichole asked.

Ponyboy nodded.

Nichole sat down next to Ponyboy and gave him a hug. "Do you remember it at all?" she asked.

Ponyboy hugged Nichole back tightly as if she was an anchor, and nodded.

"Can you tell me about it? Maybe it'll help." Nichole whispered.

"Socs were laughing and dunking my head into a fountain of water," Ponyboy began his voice quivering, "saying that they were going to wash all of the grease out of my hair. I was drowning, then I think I blacked out in the dream because next thing I know is that I'm on the ground soaking wet, and Johnny is sitting right next to me holding a bloody knife in his hand shaking, saying that he killed the Soc that was drowning me. And not two feet away from us was a dead body of a Soc." Ponyboy was shaking even more by the time he finished.

Nichole slowly started to rock Ponyboy back and forth. "Shh, it's okay. It was just a dream. That Soc can't hurt you now, and there's no dead bodies, and Johnny's right there sleeping." She said in a calm and soothing tone trying to calm Ponyboy down, even though she was freaking out on the inside herself.

"But, it felt so real. I really felt like I was going to die." Ponyboy said a tear rolling down his cheek.

"I know it did, but it is okay now. What's real is the fact that you're here right now and I'm hugging you. Okay?" Nichole said.

Ponyboy nodded.

They stayed like that for a while, and Ponyboy ended up falling asleep in Nichole's arms as if he was a little boy clinging to an older sibling or a parent.

In the morning, Soda was up first, and he was heading to the bathroom when he saw Nichole and Ponyboy asleep in her arms. He walked up to then and gave Nichole a questioning look.

"Nightmare." Nichole whispered, and Soda nodded understanding.

"I see." Soda said, and headed to the bathroom again.

Johnny woke up before Ponyboy did, and stretched.

"Morning." Nichole whispered to him.

Johnny turned and looked at Nichole holding Ponyboy. "Nightmare?" he asked.

Nichole nodded. "How did you sleep?" She asked Johnny.

"Fine. I had a dream that Pony, Two-bit and I hung out with these really nice girls at the drive in movies, but while we were walking them home, their boyfriends came and took them home instead." Johnny whispered.

"That's too bad." Nichole whispered, and thought to herself that Ponyboy and Johnny were remembering that night in two different parts with Ponyboy remembering one half of the night, and Johnny remembering the other. She had no idea though who would get the dream of the burning church when that dream came.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the next two days Nichole didn't see any more signs of Ponyboy and Johnny having nightmares about the week that they hung out in the old church. That was until the day before the rumble Dally came up to Nichole and pulled her away from the group to talk to her.

"I have a question that I think you're the only one that can answer." Dally said once they were far away from the gang who were all playing football. It was late in the afternoon so Darry, Soda, and Steve were back from work.

"What's the question?" Nichole asked, and they had stopped walking.

Dally let go of Nichole's arm. "Over the past few days Johnny has been coming to me saying that he had been having these dreams about being in an old abandoned church with Ponyboy somewhere. He had been asking me all about if I had ever heard about a Jay Mountain in Windrixville. I told him that there was a church up there that was a good hide out if one would need to lay low for a while. Also just last night, Johnny came to my place shaking like a leaf, and white as a sheet, talking about a nightmare where the church burned down with him in it, and how it felt so real, and that he felt like he was really dying. So here's my question. Is there anything in that book of yours about this? Is that wat you came here to stop from happening?" Dally finished pointing at the book sticking out of Nichole's pocket.

Nichole knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this all from Dally since he knew too much about it already. "Yes. But you can't tell Johnny or Pony about this at all. You can _never_ tell them. Especially Johnny."

"I won't tell. Just tell me what leads to all this, and I'll help you keep Johnny and Pony safe." Dally said.

"It's kind of a long story, and I don't really know how to tell you all of this myself. So I'll have to read some of it to you from the book." Nichole said.

"Sure, fine." Dally said and sat down in the grass guessing that if it's a long story he might as well sit for it.

Nichole sat next to Dally, and read him the parts about what happened at the drive in movies, the park, when Johnny and Ponyboy went to go find Dally, a little bit about the church, when the church burned down, when Johnny and Dally were in the hospital, and when Johnny, and Dally died.

When Nichole was finished the sun was almost completely down. Nichole looked up from the book, and saw Dally was looking at her in shock.

"All of that because we talked to two soc girls." Dally said.

Nichole nodded. "I know it's a lot to take in, but this is what I came here to try and prevent. You and Johnny shouldn't die so young when you guys still have so much to live for." She was crying now.

"And tomorrow night, is when Johnny and I are supposed to die." Dally said.

"Yes, but since none of this happened, it's very likely that no one will die tomorrow night, especially since it's just skin, and not knives, chains, or even heaters." Nichole said.

"Yeah I guess. I'm still going to be watching Johnny a lot more carefully from now on." Dally said getting a very protective look on his face.

"That would be a good idea, and I'll help. Though I shouldn't go to the rumble tomorrow night, since I don't know how to fight all too well." Nichole said.

"Yeah, and since Soda is pretty protective of you. He'll probably get hurt bad trying to help you." Dally said.

"Yeah, So I'll just stay home, and play nurse when you guys come home." Nichole said.

"Sounds good. You never know how badly someone could get hurt." Dally said.

Nichole nodded, and stood up. "I gotta get going before Soda gets mad at me again. See you tomorrow, Dally."

"Yeah. See ya." Dally said. He didn't get up off the ground, thinking.

Nichole walked in the house, and saw that Soda was asleep on the couch. He looked so peaceful, that Nichole couldn't bring herself to wake him to tell him to go to bed. She sighed, and got a blanket from the hall closet and covered Soda with it so he wouldn't get cold in the night.

Soda smiled in his sleep, and rolled over then ended up falling off and landing on the floor with a _thud_.

"Ow." Soda groaned, holding his head.

"Are you alright?" Nichole asked kneeling down next to Soda to see if he was hurt.

"Yeah I'm fine. When did you get home?" Soda asked.

"Just now, Dally wanted to talk to me about something and it got really late." Nichole said.

"I see. Uh, where did this blanket come from?" Soda asked holding it up.

"You were asleep on the couch, so I thought I'd get you a blanket so you wouldn't get cold." Nichole said.

"Oh, um, thanks." Soda said.

"You're welcome. Now you really should go to bed since you guys have a long day tomorrow." Nichole said standing up.

"Yeah, that's true, and you're not going to the rumble at all okay." Soda said standing up as well.

"I won't be going to the rumble. I already talked about it with Dally. He said that it wouldn't be a good idea and I agreed. So I'm just going to be playing nurse for you guys when you get home from the rumble." Nichole said.

"Why would you play nurse? We're not going to get hurt that badly." Soda said, putting the blanket away.

"But there will still be blood, so I'll be here with bandages and disinfectant when you guys get home." Nichole said.

"Um, thanks." Soda said as they walked down the hall.

"No problem. That's why I'm here. To keep you guys from getting hurt too badly, and to prevent those two deaths." Nichole said.

"Speaking of those. How are things going with that?" Soda asked.

"Tomorrow night I'll know for sure." Nichole said. She was still worried that something will happen tomorrow night that will end Johnny and Dally's lives.

"Okay, sounds good." Soda said.

"Also maybe tomorrow night or the next day the book will send me back home." Nichole said.

Soda stopped dead in his tracks, making Nichole bump into him.

"What?" Nichole asked.

"Nothing really, I was just wondering what you're going to do if you can't go home?" Soda said.

"I don't know. I guess if I can't stay home, I'll be living here with you guys for the rest of my life." Nichole said.

"You know you're always going to be welcome here right?" Soda asked.

Nichole smiled a little. "Thanks Soda. That really means a lot."

Soda pulled Nichole into a hug, and held her there for a moment. "Everything will be just fine, Nichole."

Nichole hugged Soda back sort of wishing that she was in her brother's arms for a second.

"Now go get some sleep." Soda said letting go.

"You too." Nichole said letting go too.

"Yeah." Soda said and crept into the room he shared with Ponyboy.

Nichole walked into her own room, and slept for the rest of the night, even though she worried about the day next day to come.

[…]

The next morning Nichole woke a little earlier than usual, and went to make breakfast for the gang. To her surprise however, Ponyboy was already up and at the stove making eggs.

"Morning." Nichole said with a smile.

Ponyboy looked over his shoulder and smiled back at Nichole. "What are you doing up so early?" He asked.

"I was about to ask you that." Nichole said, and she couldn't help checking Ponyboy's forehead to see if he was sick.

"What are you doing?" Ponyboy asked while Nichole did her checking.

"In the book you weren't feeling all too good today. So I was just checking. How do you feel?" Nichole asked.

"Fine." Ponyboy said.

"Good." Nichole said getting a glass from the cupboard, and thinking that maybe Ponyboy wasn't sick was because he hadn't been smoking on an empty stomach for a couple of days.

"Anyone awake?" Two-bit called into the house while he opened the door, and came running into the house with Steve.

"In here," Ponyboy called tossing an egg shell into the garbage can.

That was when Two-bit and Steve attacked.

Two-bit grabbed Ponyboy lifted him over his shoulder and spun him around nocking the frying pan off the stove.

Steve grabbed onto Nichole so she wouldn't be able to do anything about the attack.

"What the hell?" Ponyboy yelled, when Two-bit put him down.

"Why? You made me drop everything Two-bit!" Ponyboy said.

"Surprise!" Two-bit said grinning.

Ponyboy bent down to clean up the mess on the floor.

"Steve, I'll give you to the count of three to let me go before I smash your nose in with this cup. I'm feeling very violated with you touching me that way." Nichole said.

Steve was pretty much grabbing Nichole's butt with one hand.

Steve let go quickly putting his hands over his head. "I didn't know that was your butt." He said.

"Sure you didn't." Nichole said going over to the sink to get some water.

Two-bit was raiding the fridge and pulled out a cake.

"Hey, give me some of that!" Steve said jumping over Ponyboy and landing right in front of Two-bit.

This lead to the two guys fighting over how big the pieces they should have for breakfast.

"I should have stayed in bed." Nichole mumbled to herself as she took a sip of water. She then walked into the living room so she wouldn't be in the way of the clean up or the fight.

Dally and Johnny walked in next all smiles.

"What's Nichole doing out of bed?" Dally asked wrapping an arm around Nichole's waist.

"Apparently being pulled around by all of you. What is with you all today?" Nichole asked, pulling herself away from Dally.

"It's that day of the rumble. We're always a little crazy on these days." Dally explained.

"I see." Nichole said, then smiled at Johnny.

Johnny was smiling back, and offered Nichole a hug. Nichole took the offer, but pulled away before Johnny could start acting like his friends.

It was then that Soda came out of the shower, and Nichole noticed that he forgot to close the bathroom door.

Nichole looked up at the ceiling so she wouldn't see anything, and shook her head. "Men." She mumbled to herself.

"He's got a towel on now. You're good." Johnny said.

"And what if it falls down?" Nichole asked, still looking up.

"It never fell down before." Johnny said.

Darry then walked up behind Nichole and looked down at her. "Everything okay?" He asked.

"Nichole just got a bit of a glimpse of Soda getting out of the shower, and she doesn't want to take any chances." Johnny said.

"Oh…" Darry said, "Nichole just calm down, it's probably not going to be the last time you see a guy naked."

Nichole blushed and looked down to get her hair to hide it.

"Have any of you seen Nichole? She's not in her room." Soda asked.

He was standing in the hall holding the towel around his waist with one hand. Nichole could see him, but he couldn't see her because of a bit of a wall of people in front of her.

"Why do you want to know?" Steve asked, "Maybe it's a good thing she's not in her room right now, so see you walk in there like that."

Soda looked down at himself. "What?" He asked.

"You could give the girl a heart attack walking in there like that when she's asleep." Steve said.

"It wouldn't be the first time she saw me without pants." Soda said.

Nichole couldn't see a few of the guy's faces but she could picture them just by seeing Johnny's.

Soda looks around at the guys around him. "Not like _that_ get your minds out of the gutter!" Soda said.

"Then in what way did Nicole see you without pants? Enlighten us." Dally said.

"I forgot to put pants on one day when I told her it was safe for her to uncover her eyes." Soda said.

"So she just saw you in your underwear?" Two-bit asked.

Soda nodded.

"Well that's not exciting, now is it?" Two-bit said.

"Whatever. I'm getting dressed. Then I'm going to go looking for Nichole." Soda said.

"I'm right here, Soda." Nichole said walking out from behind Dally, and Darry.

"Okay. Mystery solved. Morning." Soda said then walked down the hall again.

[…]

Once everyone was ready to go, Nichole, Steve, and Soda headed to the DX station. Darry went off to roof houses, while the rest of the gang went to go do something fun.

"So what's the ruble tonight supposed to do?" Nichole asked while she was sitting on the floor handing Steve and Soda different tools for the cars they were fixing.

"It's supposed to decide whether or not the socs leave us greasers alone." Soda said grunting as he pulled a bolt tight on one of the cars.

"And what happens if the greasers lose tonight?" Nichole asked.

"Then things will stay the same as they always have. Which would really suck," Steve said, "hand me that Nichole." He pointed at a tool right next to Soda's foot.

"I bet it would." Nichole agreed, reaching over and giving the tool to Steve.

"Yep, because then maybe someone else we know could end up like Johnny did a while back." Soda said.

"That wouldn't be good at all." Nichole said, picturing what happened to poor Johnny when he got jumped.

"No it wouldn't be." Soda agreed.

"Hey, Nichole. You know all about what happens over these last few days. Who wins the rumble?" Steve asked pulling his head out from under the car.

Nichole smiled. "You know I can't tell you that."

"Yeah, but can't you make an exception?" Steve asked.

Nichole shook her head. "No, because there's still a chance that things will go differently."

"Soda," Steve said.

"Yeah Steve." Soda said.

"Your girl's no fun." Steve said.

"What are you talking about?" Soda said pulling himself out from under the car he was working on to look at Steve.

"I told you that your girl is no fun." Steve said.

"Sandy's plenty of fun." Soda said.

"I'm not talking about Sandy." Steve said.

"Then who are you talking about?" Soda asked, "I've only got one girl, and that's Sandy."

"I was talking about Nichole." Steve said.

"Nichole's not my girl. She's Johnny's girl, and she's fun too." Soda said.

"I'm no one's girl." Nichole said.

"But I thought you were with Johnny." Soda said.

"And what made you think that?" Nichole asked looking down at Soda.

"He kissed your cheek." Soda said.

"It was only that one time. It never happened again, and Johnny never asked me out. So that means that I'm not his girl. And Steve for the record. I'm not Soda's girl either." Nichole said.

Steve shrugged, and mumbled something that Nichole didn't catch.

"How's car fixing coming?" A girl's voice called into the garage.

"Good. Come on in Evie." Steve called, and a girl that was tall and pretty walked inside.

"Hey Evie." Soda said not moving from under the car.

"Hey Soda." Evie said.

"What brings you here?" Steve asked Evie.

"I got bored, so I came to see you." Evie said crawling under the car next to Steve.

Soda nudged Nichole's leg, and when she looked under the car at Soda he was pretending to vomit at that.

Nichole smiled and shook her head at Soda. "Sandy comes to visit you all the time for the same reason. You shouldn't be doing that." She whispered so Steve and Evie couldn't hear her.

Soda shrugs, "it only like that when it's someone else."

"And now you know what it's like for me." Nichole said.

"Oh… Sorry." Soda said.

"It's fine." Nichole said.

"Just think though, when you get a guy of your own, you can make everyone's stomachs turn all you want." Soda said.

Nichole just shrugged.

Soda's face fell when he seemed to have thought of something.

"Hey, Evie." Soda called to the other car.

"Yeah Soda?" Evie asked.

"I thought you and Sandy were going to hang out today." Soda said.

"We were, but Sandy ended up having a doctor's appointment. She said that she's fine though Soda, it's just a checkup that her mom made her go to." Evie said.

"Alright, thanks. Um, if you see her later could you tell her that I'll see her tomorrow?" Soda asked.

"Sure." Evie said.

[…]

"You guys be careful tonight." Nichole said to the guys.

They were all back at the Curtis house, and the gang was getting ready to go to the rumble.

"Don't worry about us Nichole. Everything is going to be just fine." Dally said.

"But still." Nichole said looking at the floor.

Johnny walked over to Nichole and gave her a hug. "We'll come back as soon as the rumble's over, so you don't have to worry about us any more than you have to."

"That makes me feel a little bit better." Nichole said hugging Johnny back.

"Good, now just watch some TV while we're gone to take your mind off of the rumble okay." Two-bit said handing Nichole the remote.

"Um, thanks." Nichole said not to sure what to do with it since she doesn't really know any of the shows from here.

Two-bit smiled, and took another swig of beer from a bottle.

Steve and Soda were arm-wrestling to test their strength. Steve one five times, while Soda won four times. They were on their last round when Darry told the gang that it was time to go.

As the guys were filing out of the house yelling, screaming, and howling. Nichole actually thought for a moment that they were all going to come back perfectly fine.


	9. Chapter 9

Dally put a hand on Johnny's shoulder as they were walking to the rumble. Steve was doing backflips off of cars, and Soda was egging him on while Two-bit was on his third beer in only an hour.

"You need to stay with Pony the whole time, you got that?" Dally said.

"Of course, Dal. I always do anyways." Johnny said.

Dally looked a little more protective of Johnny than usual. Dally nodded as they reached the vacant lot.

There were a few other gangs of greasers there getting ready to fight, while others we catching up with each other since they hadn't really seen each other in a while.

Johnny stayed near Ponyboy the whole time since the two of them were the youngest ones there.

"Do you see Curly anywhere?" Ponyboy asked.

Johnny shook his head. "No, I heard that he was in the cooler for something."

"Right." Ponyboy said nodding.

Soon the socs started driving up in their cars.

"Wow, mustangs." Ponyboy said.

"Yeah, mustangs are tuff." Johnny said. He had lit a cigarette while they were walking into the lot, but he stomped it out now since, smoking and fighting didn't really mix.

The greasers and the socs started to gather up in two lines facing each other sort of sizing each other up.

Johnny and Ponyboy looked at each of the guys trying to think of one that they would be able to fight together.

It was Darry who threw the first punch, it was a real good one, but after that the whole rumble started to turn into a storm of fighting.

Ponyboy and Johnny worked together at getting guys down together, and didn't get beat up that much, though at one point Johnny could feel his lip start to bleed.

"Hey grease, you're not fighting fair." A guy said from behind Johnny.

Johnny threw a swinging punch at the guy behind him, and hit him in the chest. This sort of knocked the soc sideways, but he straitened up, and touched the place where Johnny had hit him with a hand with rings on his fingers. Johnny's eyes widened in surprise and fear. This was the guy that had beaten Johnny up so badly the first time. Remembering that day made Johnny's scar throb.

"Oh look he's scared." The soc said with a crawl smile on his lips.

Ponyboy turned to find Johnny once he realised that he wasn't getting any more help getting their guy that had fallen to the ground.

Johnny started looking with his eyes for Dally, but he was nowhere in sight.

The soc pushed Johnny down so hard it knocked the wind out of him. A few drops of rain started to fall from the black sky above the rumble.

Ponyboy tried to help, but the soc hit him so hard in the face with the hand that had the rings and knocked him out cold.

Then the soc pulled a switch blade out of his pocket. "Why don't we give you a scar on the other side of your face to match?" The soc asked coming closer to Johnny.

Johnny tried his best to get out of the way, but he was so scared that he couldn't move. This time he was sure that he was going to die. It was starting to feel like it had when he had the dream when he was in a burning church, and the ceiling caved in on him crushing him, then he couldn't move anything below his waist.

Suddenly, Steve came out of nowhere talking the soc and rolling around on the ground with him. Somehow while their fight was going on the soc managed to stab Steve in the back. Steve screamed in agony. He sounded like a dying animal.

[…]

Nichole went pale, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She stood up from sitting on the couch, ran to the bathroom and threw up what little food she was able to eat before the guys had left to go to the rumble. Nichole felt that something went terribly wrong, and that it was all her fault since she didn't think about the consequences of her coming here to save Johnny and Dally.

The gang came home at about one in the morning all covered in blood and dirt. There where tear stains on their faces especially Soda's.

Nichole was sitting in a ball on the floor was she counted each boy off in her head. _"Darry, Ponyboy, Johnny, Soda, Dally, Two-bit. Someone's missing!"_

"W-where's Steve?" Nichole asked her voice shaking.

"He's dead." Soda whispered falling to his knees, and a new wave of tears started to fall.

"How?" Nichole asked shocked. The rumble should have been safe for them to go to. There wasn't a soc that dangerous in the book…

"I saw it happen," Johnny said though sobs, "The guy with the rings brought a blade with him, and was going to beat me up again. But Steve got him away from me before he could do anything. I don't know if he saw the knife, but while they were fighting, the soc stabbed him."

Nichole gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. "Bob…" That one word hung in the air.

Soda looked up at Nichole. "You knew didn't you?" Soda said glaring at Nichole, "You knew and you didn't stop it!" This time he yelled at the top of his lungs.

"No! No, I didn't. It wasn't in the book. It changed," Nichole said, "If I had known about this I would have made sure that none of you went to the rumble."

"Who else if going to die now huh, Nichole?" Soda was still yelling at her as if he didn't hear her before.

"I don't know!" Nichole said crying herself. Steve's death was her fault.

"You don't know?" Soda asked, "Then what do you know?"

"Nothing! I know nothing else! The story has changed now, and I'm in the dark now just as much as you are! I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next!" Nichole screamed.

Johnny put his hands over his ears trying to block out the yelling.

"Tell us what you do know, Nichole. Who was supposed to die in this story? Who did you save?" Soda asked.

Nichole sighed, and looked at Dally and Johnny. "I saved Johnny Cade, and Dallas Winston. They were supposed to die tonight, but I stopped it before it happened. I didn't know that there would be a consequence for saving them." Nichole then put her head in her hands and sobbed.

Soda turned to look at Dally and Johnny. "Did you two know about this?"

Johnny said no, but Dally said that he knew. "Nichole told me after I confronted her about these dreams that Johnny had been having." Dally said.

After the confession, Dally told the gang what Nichole had read to him from her copy of the book. By the end of Dally's story, everyone was sitting on the floor, and all was quiet. No one really knew what to say now because they were able to keep two friends, but they had also lost another.

[…]

The next day Soda went to go hang out with Sandy, while the rest of the gang went off to go do some other stuff, they probably wanted to do anything other than think about what happened the night before, but Johnny didn't get that option, he was called down to the station to give the cops a statement about what had happened the night before. Johnny was shaking like a leaf when Darry got the call from a screaming Mrs. Cade telling them what the fuzz wanted. Since Johnny looked so scared to go down to the station all by himself, Dally said that he'd go with him. After that everyone had gone off to do their own thing to try and get their minds off what happened.

Ponyboy and Nichole stayed home. People were due to come check on the Curtis brothers soon, so Ponyboy thought that it would be a good idea to clean up the house a little bit. Nichole had volunteered to help if he wanted her to. Ponyboy had agreed, and they both got to work on cleaning the house.

"When the people come by to check up on us, you might want to make yourself scarce." Ponyboy said while they were cleaning the bathroom.

"That would probably be a good idea." Nichole said.

"It's nothing personal," Ponyboy said, "It's only because maybe we'll get into trouble for letting a girl live with us and have those people know about it."

"I understand. I'll just hide my stuff in a small box in a closet before I go so they don't get any suspicions." Nichole said.

"Thanks, Nichole."

Nichole nodded, and got to work on cleaning the toilet.

[…]

Before Darry or Soda could come home, Nichole had to make herself scarce, because someone knocked on the front door, and no one that Nichole knew knocked.

"That's them," Ponyboy whispered, "You gotta go." He was standing in the hall right outside Nichole's room.

Nichole looked around to make sure that she hadn't forgotten to stash anything away. Then she looked around the room for a way to leave. The window was a good way to escape since it faced the back of the house, and not where the people would be standing. So Nichole climbed out the window, and quickly ran out of sight.

Nichole had no idea how long she would have to stay out of the house for since Ponyboy didn't really know for sure how long those people stayed for, especially if they came while Darry and Soda were at work.

Nichole ended up wondering around aimlessly trying to think of something to do. It would have been normal for her to pull out her iPod and listen to some music for a while, but she knew that she couldn't do that since she was in 1963, and there was no such thing as the iPod, or even Apple until the 1980's. Nichole also didn't want to go see one of the guys from the gang since she was pretty sure that none of them would really want to talk to her for a bit since, it was kind of her fault that Steve was dead.

While she was walking Nichole ended up at a place that she had never been to herself, but she had read about over and over again. She was at the park where Johnny had stabbed Bob to save Ponyboy from being drowned. Nichole walked over to the fountain, and sat on the ground next to it. There wasn't a lot of people around, now since it was a bit of a chilly day to take a walk, or play around in the park. So without any real distractions, Nichole was free to think.

Why hadn't she been sent home by now? She had managed to save Johnny and Dally. Nichole's work was done, so she should have been allowed to go home. Nichole really wanted to go home now, since she really missed her family.

Nichole wanted to be hugged by her parents, and brother again, and be told what to do by them, been sent to school, be bugged by teachers, and be back in the _time period_ that she understood completely, and knew how to act.

Thinking of all of this made Nichole shed a few silent tears, "I want to go home." She whispered to herself, and hoped that whoever, or whatever sent her there would hear her.

Soon the tears turned into full on crying, and she cried for a good while. By the time that the sun was getting into the late afternoon, Nichole had cried so much that she fell asleep right there in the park, and it was then that she started to dream.


	10. Chapter 10

Nichole woke up in her own bed, in her own room, in the time period that she understood. Nichole sat up and looked around her smiling. She was glad to be home, and that whatever sent her into the book let her go home where she was sure that she belonged.

Nichole ran out of her room, and down the hall to see her parents. Nichole already knew what was going to happen. It would be just like in those movies where the main character of the story goes away for a long time, and then comes back to find that everything is the same, and that no time had gone by at all. But when she reached the living room that is not what happened at all.

Nichole saw her mom sitting on the couch crying.

Nichole's smile faded into a look of fear and worry. "Mom, what's wrong? What happened?"

Her mother didn't seem to have heard her at all, and just kept on crying.

Her dad then walked into the room, he looked like he had been crying too. He sat next to his wife, and put his arms around her.

"What are we going to do, David?" Nichole's mother asked.

"I don't know." Her Father replied.

"Mom, dad. What happened? Is it Tristen? What is it?" Nichole asked. Looking around the room to try and find any signs that her brother had been hurt.

But no. If Tristen was hurt. There would have been no stopping Nichole's mom from driving to the hospital, and demanding that the doctors help him.

"How are we going to tell Tristen?" Nichole's mother asked.

"I guess we'll have to tell him outright." Nichole's father said.

"But that will crush him. The news itself would crush him. I don't know if he'll be able to take it." Her mother said.

The front door opened, and closed, "I'm home!" Tristen called from the front hall.

Nichole ran from the living room, and to her brother. Tristen had been gone for three weeks doing a job on the fishing boats, and Nichole was so happy to see him.

Tristen looked like he came home just fine, and he looked happy to be home. Nichole launched herself at her brother. "Tristen!" She squealed. But this was when the scary thing happened.

Nichole pasted right through Tristen, and she ended up on the other side of him. Also Tristen didn't even seem to notice his little sister run right at him, and try to hug him.

Tristen rounded the corner into the living room.

"What's wrong? Where's Nichole." Tristen asked when he saw his mother crying, and his father holding her. He was crying again too.

"I'm right here! Why can't anyone see me?" Nichole said, almost yelling really trying now to be heard.

Nichole's mother pulled herself away from her husband to look at Tristen, "Tristen sit down. Your father and I have something to tell you."

Tristen did as he was told, and Nichole could tell that he was bracing himself for something bad. Nichole stood right next to Tristen, and tried to grab his arm, like she would normally do when their parents were about to dump bad news on them, but her hand just pasted right through her brother's arm, and through the chair he was sitting in.

"There was an accident," Nichole's mother began, "When Nichole was walking home from school, she was hit by someone driving drunk, and she died at the scene."

"That's not possible! I came home, and fell asleep. I'm here! I'm alive!" Nichole screamed, she was crying now.

"No! How could that happen? She's a strong girl! How could she die from that?" Tristen yelled, he was already crying.

"Officers say that the driver was going over 100 km an hour when he hit her." Nichole's father said.

"Now, you see why you can't go home?" a voice said from behind her.

Nichole turned around, and saw Cherry Valance. She looked sad at what she was showing Nichole.

"How can I be dead? I came home from school the day I left." Nichole said.

"Yes you did, but since you were pulled into the book, and can't come out. In a solid form. The world you lived in had to find a way for your family to not think that you were kidnapped, and put up missing posters and try and find you." Cherry said.

"But I didn't ask to go into your world." Nichole snapped.

"Yes you did. You wished that you could save, Johnny and Dally. The only way for you to have been able to do that, was to go into the book, and stop them from going to the Drive-In-Movie." Cherry said.

"But why couldn't someone have warned me about this?" Nichole asked.

"Someone did. Do you remember your dream, Nichole? The one with Sodapop Curtis in it?" Cherry asked.

"Yes, but all Soda said was that something was going to happen. He didn't say anything about this!" Nichole said gesturing around with her arms indicating that her family thinking that she was dead was something that could have been avoided.

"Now that would have given things away." Cherry said with a smile.

Nichole looked back at her parents, and brother sobbing in the living room, and her heart broke.

"What if I took back my wish?" Nichole asked looked back at Cherry.

"Now Nichole is that something that you really want to do, now that you know the boys?" Cherry asked.

Nichole hesitated she was torn now.

"See, you can't do it. You don't want to have to take away those two lives just so you can have yours back." Cherry said.

"But…" Nichole said. She looked at her family again, tears rolling down her face in buckets now.

"Nichole, just say your good-byes and you'll be taken back to the world you'll be living in forever." Cherry said.

Nichole could only nod, and walk over to her family crying in the living room. She sat on the floor between the two pieces of furniture, and looked up at her family.

"I'm so sorry that this happened. I never meant for it too. If I could come home, and keep what I have done in the book the way it is now, and keep my friends from dying. I would, but I can't, and for that I'm really sorry," Nichole said holding back sobs so she could get this all out, even though she knew now that no one could hear her but Cherry, "I love you all very much, and I'll miss you all terribly."

Nichole stood up, and blew kisses to her parents, and brother then walked back to Cherry.

Cherry then lead Nichole out of the house, and they walked down the road towards a light at the end of it.

"When you walk through this. You will wake up back at the park where you fell asleep." Cherry said stopping right on the edge of the light.

Nichole could only nod as she walked through the light.

[…]

Nichole woke with a start in the park. The moon and stars were out now, and it was a lot colder than when she first sat down.

Nichole couldn't help sobbing again. She put her head in her hands and cried for a while. She knew that Soda, and the rest of the gang would be mad at her for staying out so late; but she just didn't care right then since it was something that she had to bare alone. Nichole had to try and come to terms with the fact that she would never see her family again, because she had made a wish.

Nichole cried herself out before she hauled herself up from the ground and started walking back home. It would be her home now until she found a place of her own, and could get a job to pay the bills for that place too. The thought of that would have made Nichole start crying again if she had only had anymore tears to shred.

Nichole didn't notice that the light was on in the living room, and she didn't notice Soda sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette, and an empty carton of them on the coffee table.

"And where have you been?" Soda asked after blowing out a puff of smoke.

"I don't want to talk about it." Nichole whispered, she just couldn't make her voice any louder than that. She sat down on the couch next to Soda, and pulled a tissue out of the box on the coffee table to blow her nose.

"Are you okay?" Soda asked.

Nichole shook her head. "No, and I don't think I'll ever be again. Are you okay?"

"No." Soda said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nichole whispered.

"Well, I might as well tell you myself before anyone else does." Soda said.

Nichole waited for Soda to tell her what happened.

"Sandy's pregnant, she says that I'm not the father, and she's moving away." Soda said. He looked really sad about it.

Nichole gave Soda a hug to try and comfort him. "That really sucks. Are you going to try writing to her?"

Soda hugged Nichole back. "Yeah, I'll give it a try. I don't know if she'll write back though."

"Maybe she will. It's worth a try since you love her." Nichole said.

"Okay. Thanks. Nichole." Soda said.

Nichole pulled away. "Don't thank me, I didn't do anything. No anything all that great anyway."

"What do you mean?" Soda asked.

"I'm talking about Steve. It's my fault that Steve is gone, and I really sorry that you lost your best friend." Nichole said looking at the floor.

"It's not your fault, Nichole. You didn't know that this was going to happen." Soda said.

"You said that it was my fault last night." Nichole pointed out.

"I know I did, and for that I'm sorry; the only one whose fault it if for killing Steve is the one who held the knife. Not the one that came here only to try and save two members of the gang and our friends. For that noble deed you should be allowed to head home soon." Soda said.

Nichole went really quiet, she knew that no more tears would come until she drank some water, but she felt like she needed to cry, because she would never get to go home. "I can't go home." She whispered.

"Why not? Don't you miss your family?" Soda asked.

"Of course I miss my family. It's not that I don't want to go home. It's that I _can't_. That's why I was gone so long. I had a dream that showed me why I can't go home. Whatever brought me here in the first place made my family think that I was killed by being hit by a drunk driver. And now I'm stuck living in this world for the rest of my life." Nichole whispered.

It was Soda's turn to give Nichole a hug. He held her tightly and protectively. "I'm sorry to hear that, but you know that you can always stay with us."

"Thanks, Soda. But I know that I can't stay with you guys for ever." Nichole said. She felt comfortable in Soda's arms.

"Why not?" Soda asked. He sifted a little so he could get a good look at Nichole's face.

"Because someday, you guys will all get married, and move somewhere else, and no one would want to take me with them." Nichole said.

"That problem can be solved easily." Soda said.

"How?" Nichole asked looking up at Soda.

"Well you could start going out with one of the gang." Soda said.

"Yeah, right." Nichole said.

"Is there something wrong with us?" Soda asked.

"No, no. That's not what I meant. I meant that I'm sure that on one in the gang would want to go out with me. Let alone marry me someday." Nichole said.

Soda shrugged. "You never know. Maybe someday someone will ask you out."

"Maybe. I just don't want to think about getting into any relationships right now." Nichole said.

"That's understandable. I wouldn't either, and I actually don't want to either too." Soda said.

"That's understandable." Nichole said, and Soda nodded in agreement.

They stayed like that for a while, but Nichole pulled away from Soda when he pulled another cigarette out of the pack and tried to light it with one hand.

"I'm going to go to bed now," Nichole said standing up, "please don't stay up too late."

"It's already pretty late." Soda pointed out. He now had both of his hands since he wasn't holding Nichole anymore, so it was easier for him to light his cigarette.

"I know, but I think I can sleep now; and maybe I won't have any more nightmares." Nichole said.

"Um, I think I know where I can help out with that." Soda said.

Nichole cocked her head to the side. "How so?"

Soda took a drag on his cigarette and blew out the smoke. "You could come stay with Pony and me." He offered.

Nichole tied to think of where in the room she could sleep, and since she was never in that room before, she couldn't come up with any. "And where do you suggest I sleep in there? Is there room for me on the floor?" She asked.

Soda shook his head. "No there isn't. But that's not what I was talking about to begin with."

"Then what were you talking about then?" Nichole asked.

"Well, the three of us could easily fit on the bed." Soda said.

Nichole's eyes widened in shock. "Um…" was all that she could say. The very thought of sleeping in the same bed with _any_ boy made Nichole feel a little bit uneasy, but it did make it a little bit worse since it was Soda. Even though she knew that Ponyboy would be there too. Nichole held her hands behind her back, so Soda wouldn't see her hands shaking.

"Nichole, you know you don't have to if you don't want to. It was just an offer." Soda said.

Nichole nodded, "I know, but don't you think that Ponyboy should have a say in this too? It would be wired for all of us, if he woke up in the morning and saw me randomly there."

"Right good point." Soda said.

"So I think, that I'll just stay in the bed that you gave me." Nichole said.

Soda took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it out in the ashtray, "Alright then, but if you have any nightmares come and wake me up. I'll try and make you feel better."

Nichole smiled a little bit. "Thanks Soda, um same goes for you." She said.

Soda smiled too. "Good night Nichole."

"Good night Soda." Nichole said, and headed to her room.


	11. Chapter 11

Nichole did have a nightmare again that night. This time, she was watching her family put her casket into the ground at the cemetery while crying. It was her funeral, and everyone that Nichole had known since she was little was there. Everyone was crying, and saying that she had died too young.

Nichole couldn't help crying along with them, because she knew that she was hurting her family and friends. Nichole had hoped that she wouldn't be forced to see this after she saw when her family found out that she was dead, and she was all alone this time, Cherry Valence didn't come to tell Nichole anything.

When Nichole raised her hands to wipe the tears away however, she saw that her hand was covered in wrinkles. Nichole gasped in shock, and looked down to see the rest of herself. She was in clothes that she saw old women ware.

Nichole looked around till she saw a building where she was sure that had a bathroom. She walked over to it, because she found it hard enough to walk let alone run. When she reached the bathroom, Nichole looked in the mirror, and saw an old woman staring back at her with wide shocked eyes.

Nichole woke with a start, and sat bolt upright. She turned on the lamp next to her bed, and looked down at her hands, and they were her normal hands, with no signs of old age. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then it hit her.

By the time that Nichole gets buried in the ground, she'll be an old woman, and would be able to watch it all happen. Nichole put a hand over her mouth to try and keep quiet while she cried, because she didn't wat to wake the boys. She cried for a while, and when she was done, crying she thought about if she should go to Soda or not.

Soda had said that if Nichole had a nightmare that she could go to him, but Nichole wasn't too sure if she should wake him for something like this. There was nothing really that Soda could do about it, and he had his own problems with Sandy to deal with. He shouldn't have to deal with Nichole's pain too.

Nichole rolled herself into a ball, and wiped away the tears that she had shed.

"I don't want to dream anymore." Nichole whispered to herself, and she didn't have any dreams for the rest of the night because she didn't allow herself to fall asleep again, since she was afraid that she would have another nightmare.

[…]

Nichole was the first one up when morning came around, and she thought that it would probably be a good idea to bake the gang a cake to try and help them all take their minds off what had happened so far.

The first cake that Nichole had made here did not taste exactly like Mrs. Curtis's cake according to Darry, but it was also pretty close to it according to Soda. Nichole was glad that the guys had liked her cake, but she hadn't made another one since that last one till now.

The cake was in the oven, and Nichole was doing the dishes, and cleaning up after the little mess she had made when Soda came walking into the kitchen.

It was obvious to Nichole that Soda did not sleep all that well either since there were dark bags under his eyes.

"Morning." Nichole said.

"Morning," Soda replied taking a dishtowel and started to dry a spoon, "How did you sleep?"

"Not all that well. How about you?" Nichole asked.

"Same." Soda said, he put the spoon away, and started drying a bowl.

"Um, don't you want to eat anything before drying the dishes? And speaking of that, you don't have to do that at all. This is my mess, I can clean it up." Nichole said.

"Please just let me do what I want to do this morning," Soda said, "and besides, I wanted to try some of your cake for breakfast."

"Oh, okay." Nichole said, she looked down at the soapy water and yawned a little bit.

"Did you have any more nightmares?" Soda asked.

Nichole hesitated before giving Soda an answer, "Depends on what you call a nightmare."

Soda sighed, "Did you wake up crying?"

Nichole nodded.

Soda put down the dishtowel, and pulled Nichole into a hug. "Why didn't you come to me about it?"

"Um… I thought that you shouldn't have to deal with what I'm going through right now, while you're dealing with your own sucky stuff." Nichole said.

"What's 'sucky'?" Soda asked.

"It's a word that means bad. It's a word from my time." Nichole said.

"I see, well that word actually seems to fit both of our lives right now huh?" Soda said.

Nichole nodded, "Yes it does. That's why I'm making a cake. I thought that it would be something that could cheer everyone up at least a little bit."

"That's a good idea." Soda said, and Nichole could hear a little bit of a smile in his voice.

Nichole couldn't help smiling a little bit too. "Yeah, I guess it is."

The timer dinged on the counter indicating that the cake was done. Nichole unwounded herself from Soda's arms so she could get the cake out of the oven.

"Who's baking?" Ponyboy asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Me." Nichole said pulling the cake out of the oven, and placing it on a wire rack so it can cool.

Ponyboy nodded. "It looks good." He said.

Soda reached towards the cake to take a peace, but Nichole stopped him when she hit his hand.

"What was that for?" Soda complained.

"The cake it too hot to even touch right now, let alone eat. You'll just have to wait a little while longer." Nichole said crossing her arms in front of her to show Soda that she meant it.

Nichole must have looked pretty funny, because Soda just started laughing. "Alright, I'll wait a little while longer."

Nichole nodded, and then she turned around and swotted Ponyboy's hand too, which was reaching for the cake. "That goes for you too, Pony."

"Fine." Ponyboy said, and he walked to the refrigerator to get a glass of chocolate milk.

"Morning everyone!" Two-bit called as he walked into the house, "Who's awake?"

"We are." Soda called He was in the refrigerator now, pulling out eggs, butter, and grape jelly.

"That doesn't completely answer the question, Soda." Two-bit said as he walked around the corner and into the kitchen.

Nichole moved out of the way so there would be at least some room for all four of them in the small kitchen.

"What's with all the shouting?" Darry asked as he walked into the kitchen too so he could get himself some coffee before he headed off to work.

Nichole had to squeeze herself past all the boys who were talking and cooking in order for her to get out.

That was when Dally and Johnny walked through the door that Two-bit forgot to close.

"What's going on?" Dally asked.

"For some reason, everyone wants to hang out in the kitchen this morning." Nichole explained.

Dally walked into the crowded kitchen to see what was going on.

"Hey Look! Cake!" Two-bit exclaimed, and Nichole was sure that now all of the guys would want to cake now, and she could not stop them from toughing it before it cooled off.

"You made a cake?" Johnny asked.

Nichole nodded, "I thought that it would maybe make you guys feel better if I made you guys a cake."

Johnny gave Nichole a hug, "That's really tuff of you."

Nichole smiled and hugged Johnny back. "Thanks Johnny. How did it go at the station yesterday?"

"They wanted me to retell everything that had happened the night of the rumble." Johnny said, and he looked like he was thinking back on how terrible that night was.

Nichole hugged Johnny tighter as if she could protect him from the memory. "The fuzz do that the day after what happened, because by then everyone that's involved has calmed down enough to think."

"They had me tell what happened that very night too." Johnny said.

"Maybe they just wanted to hear it again." Nichole said.

"Yeah maybe." Johnny agreed.

They hugged each other tightly, like they were trying to be an anchor for one another. After a while they pulled apart, and headed to the kitchen to see what the others were up to.

They were all sitting in different places around the room. Ponyboy, and Soda were both sitting on the counter, Two-bit was perched on the refrigerator like a cat, and Darry and Dally were sitting on the floor with the cake on a plat sitting on the floor in front of them. It was about half gone, and all the boys that were in the kitchen while Nichole and Johnny were in the living room, had crumbs on their face.

"How's the cake?" Nichole asked.

"Really good, thank you." Soda said with a smile. Nichole had to hold back a bit of a giggle since there was a little bit of cake in his teeth, and Nichole found it funny.

Johnny sat down on the floor next to Dally, and took a peace of the cake. When he took a bite of it, he smiled, and he didn't look like he had just witnessed a murder a day and a half ago.

Nichole sat on the last spot that was left on the floor which was right next to where Soda was dangling his foot.

"How are things?" Dally asked Nichole.

"What do you mean?" Nichole asked.

"Soda told us that you can't go home, and we were all wondering how you were doing with that." Darry explained.

Nichole looked up at Soda. "Why did you tell them?" She wasn't mad at him, but she still thought that she should have been the one that told the rest of the gang about it.

Soda shrugged, "I thought that it would be easier for you to have me tell the gang than you having to tell it more than once."

Nichole nodded. "Thanks Soda."

Johnny raised his hand. "I'm confused. Why can't Nichole go home? Her mission is done isn't it?'

"It is done, Johnny it's just that…" Nichole started crying before she could finish her explanation.

Soda jumped down from the counter, and hugged Nichole tightly. He moved around so He ended up sitting down, and was holding Nichole in his lap while she cried getting his T-shirt whet with tears. Nichole liked the comfort of being in Soda's arms like that, but it was a little strange with the rest of the gang in the same room. Soda didn't seem to care, he just wanted Nichole to just calm down.

Dally leaned over, and whispered in Johnny's ear the answer to his question. Johnny's eyes went wide with shock, and he looked at Nichole.

"That's horrible." Johnny whispered, and it sounded like he was close to tears too.

Nichole now felt like she needed to comfort Johnny, but when she moved to get out of Soda's grasp to go hug Johnny, Soda tightened up on Nichole so she couldn't go anywhere. Though a small opening in Soda's embrace, Nichole could see that Dally was hugging Johnny like an older brother would to when the younger brother is sad, or just woke up from a nightmare.

"I just keep making everyone hurt." Nichole whispered, and Soda seemed to be the only one that could hear her.

"Don't say that," Soda whispered in Nichole's ear, "don't even think that. You don't make us all hurt on purpose, and you do your best to take the hurt away. You just did that this morning with the cake you made for us, and you saved both Dally and Johnny."

"But I'm the reason that Steve is dead." Nichole whispered.

"Steve died saving Johnny, it's not your fault that Steve is dead, it's the guy who killed him." Soda hissed, and Nichole saw a tear from Soda start to roll down his face.

Nichole hugged him tightly, trying to take Soda's pain away. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Don't be." Soda whispered.

"But I made you cry," Nichole whispered, "and for that I'm very sorry."

Nichole reached up to Soda's face, and gently wiped his tears away.

They both had no idea that the rest of the gang had left the kitchen so the two of them could be alone.


	12. Chapter 12

Over the next couple of days Soda was working on writing a letter to Sandy. Nichole could tell that Soda found this very difficult, because the garbage can was over flowing with crumpled pieces of paper that Soda had thrown away thinking that he shouldn't say something.

"So _that's_ why email was invented." Nichole whispered to herself, when she walked passed Ponyboy and Soda's room, and she saw Soda working really hard at the desk.

It had been three days since Soda had held Nichole on the kitchen floor, and they didn't really have time together like that since. Nichole thought that was because she had made sure to cry about her family at night when no one could hear her, and either tell her to get over it, or to try and make her feel better. That and she thought that Soda holding her like that was a little too intimate since Soda had a girlfriend even though she was far away and was pregnant with another guy's kid.

"How's the homework coming?" Nichole asked as she sat at the take across from Ponyboy.

"I just don't know what to write for this stupid English paper!" Ponyboy said.

Nichole started to think. "You could write about Mikey mouse, the horse I mean."

Ponyboy shook his head. "I don't think so, that was Soda's hours."

"Um, do you remember your trip to the zoo?" Nichole asked.

"Not really." Ponyboy said.

"Hmm, you know, you could write about what it's like to be a greaser. That has got to be something that your teacher would like to know about since not a lot of adult do know about it." Nichole suggested.

Ponyboy smiled, "Nice, but how would I start?"

"Hmm, anywhere would be good I think. You could start from when you lost your parents, or when Johnny got jumped, or you could start when you got jumped, and go over what happened in your life up to the rumble. However if you do chose to write about that, it would probably be a good idea to leave out the fact that I came out of nowhere." Nichole said.

"Thanks, Nichole. I think I have a good start on this now." Ponyboy said.

"Glad I could help." Nichole said with a smile.

Nichole then stood up, and left Ponyboy alone to write his paper. There was no one really around that they to hang out with, because everyone that had school, had to write some sort of paper otherwise they would get summer school when June came around, (well aside from Ponyboy.) Also Darry had to work, and Soda was working on his letter.

This was when Nichole had decided to take a walk since there was nothing better to do, and it was a pretty nice day out.

Nichole walked around for the rest of the day, thinking about what had happened over the past few days, and she ended up thinking a lot about how close she and Soda had gotten since she came to live with the Curtis brothers.

Sodapop had always been Nichole's favorite guy in the book, and the movie. She had taken quizzes on the internet, and read fanfictions about Soda and, she had thought that he could be an imaginary boyfriend for her, and he was for a while when she was fourteen. But she never thought that she and Soda would become so close in real life. However Nichole didn't think that the relationship that she had with Soda would turn into anything other than a friendship. Nichole really liked Soda, but she was sure that Soda didn't feel the same way, especially since he was writing a letter to Sandy, and even though in the book Sandy sent the letter back unopened, it didn't necessarily mean that it would happen this time around. Maybe Sandy would come back someday, and marry Soda then he would be the step-dad of her child, and maybe they would have a child of their own…

Nichole turned around and kicked a lamp post so hard that it swayed a little bit. "Stop thinking about that!" Nichole told herself, "You know for a fact that Sandy is going to be a fucking bitch, and send Soda's letter back unopened, and Soda is going to be heartbroken about that. Because everything else that happened in the book that wasn't connected to Johnny and Ponyboy running away happened! And when that happens, you need to be there for him and not be sitting around feeling sorry for yourself!"

After every sentence, Nichole kicked the lamp post, making it sway more and more.

"Stop doing that! If you continue to do that young lady, I'm going to call the police!" A store owner called from the door to his store.

"Oh, bite me." Nichole grumbled as she put her hands in her pockets, and walked away.

Nichole kept on walking till she accidentally ended up on the side of town that belonged to the socs. The gang had made it really clear to Nichole that she should _never_ go over to the socs side of town, because that's just asking for them to come along, and jump you.

Normally Nichole would have payed attention to her surroundings, so she would have been able to know when she was getting close to that side of town, but with all the thoughts about Sandy being a bitch for hurting Soda so badly, and there were also little thoughts about Soda that Nichole had when he mind started to wonder that made her blush a little bit. Nichole was so preoccupied that she also didn't notice that the sun had gone down too.

[…]

There were about three drunk socs walking around talking about going to find some nice girls to pick up.

"Who says we can't have some fun while Bob's in jail?" One said in a slurred voice.

"Yeah, why should him killing some stupid greaser go along and spoil our fun?" The second one said, and took a swig from the bottle that they were passing around it was about the third bottle that they had that night.

"Hey look over there," the third guy said pointing over at Nichole, "what's a greasy girl doing over on our side of town?"

The other two guys looked around and saw Nichole too, and smiled. "She must be tired of all the greaser guys that she hangs around all the time, and she might wanna hang around with us." The first drunk soc said.

"Well then, let's go pick her up, and maybe with the three of us we could show her a good time." The second soc said.

The third agreed and they started walking towards Nichole.

[…]

Nichole was pulled from her thoughts when she heard three drunk guys cat-calling her, it was only when she looked around to see who was doing it when she noticed that it was three drunk socs that were doing the calling.

"Hey grease, you wanna come hang out with us?" The first soc asked, and was he came closer, Nichole knew him as Randy, Bob's best friend who helped beat Johnny up, and who in the book, helped Bob try to drown Ponyboy.

Nichole took a step back. "N-no thanks guys."

"Oh, why not?" The second soc asked.

"I'm just not in the mood for hanging out with guys I have never met before, that's all." Nichole said starting to walk back-words, not taking her eyes off these dangerous men.

"Then why did you come over to the soc's side of town?" The third soc asked.

" _Don't answer that."_ Nichole thought. "It was nice meeting you guys. I'll just be heading home now…"

"Now, now miss. Why would you wanna go home so soon? We just met, so they don't we all just start to get to know each other better." Randy said smiling like a drunken creep.

Nichole wasn't watching where she was going, and she ended up backing into a lit lamp post, she gulped.

"I see you've decided to stay with us after all." Randy said. He was the one that came the closest. He roughly grabbed Nichole's hair, brought it up to his face and sniffed.

"You smell nice." He said.

Nichole was shaking, she had no idea what was going to happen, but she knew that she needed to get out of this. _"Tristen, help!"_ She thought. This was when she remembered something that her older brother had told her once.

' _If a guy gets too close to you, and you don't want him to. Don't punch him in the face, or try to poke his eyes out, he'll he the attack coming. But what he won't see is if you kick him in the groin. After that you run. Don't look back just run!"_

Nichole was thankful that she remembered her brother's words even though remembering his voice did make her sad. Nichole Kicked Randy hard, and as he howled in pain, Nichole pulled herself away from the lap post and ran like her life depended on it.

"Well, don't just stand there! Get that greaser, and we'll teach her a lesson." Randy yelled at his two friends.

Nichole could hear them running after her, so she kicked into high gear, and ran faster, and faster.

" _Keep running Nichole! Just keep running!"_ She told herself.

Nichole managed to get to the side of town that the greasers controlled, and she started to run home so she would be able to get help. When she reached the park, Nichole decided to cut through it since it would be a short cut home, and then that way she would reach her friends faster. She made a hard right, and started bolting towards the other end of the park.

Nichole ran into trouble when she reached the fountain which was the halfway point. She tripped over a rock, and fell to the ground hard. Her knee hit a sharp rock, and it ripped her jeans and her knee started to bleed so badly that she was going to need some stitches. The pain of getting her knee cut that badly, made Nichole not able to move for a moment.

The two soc guys grabbed Nichole by her wrists, and held her so tight that after a moment her hands started to go numb.

Randy came limping over with a huge smile on his face. "Well, well. We finally caught you."

"What are we going to do with her Randy?" the soc on Nichole's right asked.

"Oh, I don't know really. But first let's see how she likes getting kicked." Randy kicked Nichole hard in the stomach.

The pain made Nichole double over and vomit right of one of the soc's holding her shoes.

"Oh! That's grouse! You little tramp!" the soc said and shook Nichole violently.

Nichole found that it was now hard for her to see straight, or even think right.

"Now since she's a greaser, she must really like her hair long, and come to think of it. I like her hair too…" Randy said pulling out his switch blade.

"Why don't we cut some of her hair off to keep as a reminder of her." The soc on Nichole's left said, and there was the sound of a smile in his voice.

"Yes, let's do that. Let's give this greaser a haircut." Randy said with a smile.

This made Nichole's eyes widen in shock… _"Need a haircut, greaser?"_ That was what the soc in the book said when Ponyboy had gotten jumped, and they wanted to cut his hair off. Those socs weren't drunk, but they still made a pretty good cut on Ponyboy's neck, and they could have killed him then too. Randy and his friends were drunk, and they could kill Nichole just as easily as the socs that jumped Ponyboy could have.

"No!" Nichole screamed, "Soda, Dally, Two-bit! Anyone help!"

Nichole also started to struggled hard trying to break free, Randy punched Nichole in the face, and she spit of blood getting it all over her jeans-jacket and jeans.

"Shut up, you bitch. Calling for help isn't going to save you," Randy said, "Lay he down guys, cutting her hair will be easier that way."

The two other socs did as they were told, but not without Nichole trying to fight them while doing it.

Randy sat on Nichole's stomach, and took a lock of hair in his fist, and held the knife to it.

Nichole braced herself for whatever they were going to do to her after they were done cutting her hair off. With Randy sitting on her stomach, and the two other socs holding Nichole down there was nothing that she could do to get away to stop them from doing whatever it is that they wanted.


	13. Chapter 13

Randy ran a hand through Nichole's hair. "You know, I should really wash the swet from your hair before I cut it. It'll be nicer."

Nichole's eyes widened. _"I'm going to die tonight."_ she thought.

Randy got off Nichole bumping her injured knee sending fire screaming up her leg. Nichole couldn't help screaming, a long curtailing horror movie cream.

"Oh shut up!" Randy snarled, and the two other soc's shook her.

"Drag her to the fountain, we'll wash her hair there." Randy said and started walking towards the fountain.

The two other socs started to drag Nichole to the fountain by her wrists, it hurt _a lot_ especially since Nichole was trying to fight them off though if she had gotten free. She couldn't go anywhere since her knee was messed up. Every time something moved it, a new fire would start burning her let, but she fought back the screams of pain since she would get punished again.

They lay Nichole over the lip of the fountain, and Nichole braced herself for the freezing cold water. It was November now, and it was a lot colder than it had been in October so the water was frozen. Randy broke the ice with his knife.

"Now, gets get started." Randy said with an evil smile on his face.

Nichole tried to take a breath, but before she could finish, the Randy's two friends dunked her head in the water and she got a lung full of ice water.

[…]

Soda had finally finished writing his letter to Sandy. It had taken him all day to get it right, and this time it was perfect. Soda was putting the letter in the mail box when he heard Nichole screaming for the first time. She was calling for help.

Soda new that he had to help her so he broke into a run, towards the park, and when Nichole screamed he kicked into high gear, and reached the park.

He saw three socs holding Nichole hostage and two were holding her over the fountain. When they dunked her head in, Soda's vision when red, and he ran towards to socs.

"Let her go!" Soda yelled, and punched one of the socs that were holding Nichole's head in the fountain, they let go and ended up blacking out. The other two looked terrified.

Soda glared at the remaining two socs. The last one that was holding Nichole dropped her, and she came rolling out of the fountain and fell to the ground. It didn't look like she was breathing.

Soda punched the guy that dropped Nichole in the stomach, then wailed on the last guy, who was holding the knife. He doped it, and held his hands over his head in surrender.

"C-come on man, calm down." He said.

"How can I calm down?" Soda snarled, advancing on the soc, "You guys attacked my girl, and she could be dead now for all I know."

Soda then punched the soc in the face and his nose started to spout blood. The two socs that were still awake broke into a run, leaving their friend behind.

Soda then turned his attention to Nichole. She looked bad. There was blood staining her jacket and shirt, and her left pant-leg was soaked with blood. Soda had never seen so much blood. On top of that she was wet with the ice water from the fountain, and she wasn't breathing.

Soda got down on his knees and lay his ear on her chest to listen for a heartbeat. There was one, but it was week from the loss of blood and the cold water.

Soda then got to work on getting Nichole to start breathing again, be preforming C.P.R. He had learned C.P.R in gym class one year, and he had no idea that he would ever use it, but today he was glad that he remembered how to do it.

He started with the chest compressions to try and pump the water out. Then he tilted Nichole's head back and gave her two big breaths of air, and started again with the chest compressions.

"Come on Nichole. You're not going to die on me. Wake up, wake up dam it!" Soda said through tears.

After the third time of giving Nichole breathes, Nichole rolled over and coughed up the water that she inhaled.

Soda breathed a sigh of relief.

[…]

Nichole's lunges, and throat were on fire when she coughed up the water, but she could breathe again.

Once Nichole caught her breath, she had a question: why was she still alive? The socs should have killed her by dunking her head in the cold ice fountain. That was when she heard the sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god." Soda said.

Nichole rolled over, and saw Soda was kneeling over her with a smile on his face.

"When did you get here?" Nichole asked. He voice was scratchy from just expelling water from her lungs.

Soda didn't answer her. He just picked Nichole up gently, and hugged her, "You're alive," he said and kissed her cheek.

This shocked Nichole, and she looked at Soda wish wide eyes. "Um, are you okay?" she asked.

Soda was grinning and clearly too happy to see how socked Nichole was. "I'm better than okay. How are you doing?"

"Well, I'm freezing cold, by throat hurts, and I think my knee is broken." Nichole said, thinking that she could leave out the fact that she was shocked and confused by Soda kissing her cheek.

"Right. I should take a look at that." Soda said. He gently sat Nichole on his knee, and pulled his knife from his back pocket.

"What are you doing?" Nichole asked.

"I have to cut away the fabric of you jeans so I can have a look at your knee," Soda said sounding like he had done this before, "It's bleeding so, I think that rolling up your pant leg would be any good."

"Okay." Nichole said, and she turned her face away so she wouldn't have to look at it.

Soda was very gentle when he cut away the pant leg of Nichole's jeans starting from just above the knee by about two inches.

When Soda got a good look at Nichole's knee. He gasped a little.

"How bad is it?" Nichole asked not baring to look.

"Um… No too, too bad. I don't think, but I am going to be taking you to the hospital anyway." Soda said. He took off the plaid shirt that he normally wore over a T-shirt, and gently wrapped Nichole's knee up in it.

"How are we going to be getting to the hospital?" Nichole asked as Soda gently set her down on the ground again, then stood up, and picked her up bridal-style. Nichole had to wrap her arms around his neck so she wouldn't feel like she was going to fall.

"There's a truck back at the house, and I can drive pretty well. So I'll drive us there." Soda said and started walking.

Nichole couldn't help snorting.

"What?" Soda asked.

"The book pretty much says that you drive like a maniac." Nichole said.

Soda raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that so?"

"Yep." Nichole said.

"Well I guess, we'll see if the book is right about that one." Soda said.

Nichole rested her head on Soda's chest as he walked. It didn't feel awkward or anything with him carrying her. However she was sure that Soda would start yelling soon after he was done with the being so happy that Nichole was alive thing.

When they got to the house, Soda took Nichole with him to get the keys to the truck. He did this since he didn't want to leave Nichole alone right now, and there was no place to put her while Soda got the keys.

Soda also wrote a quick note to his brothers telling them where they were going to be so they wouldn't completely freak out.

Soda sat Nichole down on the passenger's side, and propped her injured leg on the seat right between them.

Nichole got a little scared, because she had just remembered that there were no seat belts. So she held one of her hands on the dashboard in front of her so she wouldn't slam into it.

"What are you doing?" Soda asked when he climbed in the truck.

"There's no seat belts." Nichole said.

"Those aren't necessary." Soda said.

"Oh really? Do you know how many people die ayear _because_ they didn't have their seat belts on and they went flying through the windshield?" Nichole asked.

"No." Soda said. He started the truck and revved the engine.

"Well it's a lot. So the next time you guys buy a vehicle. I'm going to make sure that it has seat belts in it. _And_ I'm going to be having you guys where them." Nichole said.

"Alright, whatever makes you happy honey." Soda said.

Nichole looked at Soda in surprise again.

Soda looked at Nichole out of the corner of his eye as he drove down the street. "What's that look for?"

"You called me honey. You never called me that before." Nichole said.

Soda shrugged. "There's worse things I could call you right now."

Nichole could hear that Soda was going to start yelling any moment now. "Like what?"

"Like I could call you stupid for walking around on your own at night _again._ I thought we talked about this Nichole. This is just the thing that I was talking about when I told you _not_ to do. First I lost Steve, then Sandy goes off and leaves me, now you're trying to get yourself killed. What the fuck woman!" Soda said his voice escalating till he was almost yelling.

"I'm sorry Soda, but in my defence, it wasn't getting dark when I left the house. The sun was out, and I just couldn't stay inside. I just had to go for a walk. Then I got lost in my thoughts, that was when I lost track of time, and then the sun went down…and I ran into the socs, and yeah. I'm really sorry though for scaring you like that." Nichole said.

Soda sighed. "Fine, but next time that you want to go for a walk on a nice day, please try and pay attention." He didn't sound like he was too angry anymore, maybe that was because Nichole really wasn't trying to die.

"I will. Though I don't think that I'll be going anywhere on my own for a while." Nichole said looking at her rapped up knee.

"No you're not, but if you're good and it's a nice day I'll take you outside." Soda said.

Nichole smiled a little. "Thanks Soda."

Soda nodded, and he pulled the truck into the parking lot of the hospital.

"Now, come on. Let's see what the doctor can do to fix you up." Soda said.

Soda carried Nichole to the front desk in the E.R, and then Nichole was admitted to the hospital.

They had to wait for a half an hour for a doctor to come and have a look at her knee. But Nichole did get a hospital bed right away, and Soda didn't leave her side for a second, except when a nurse had to help Nichole change into a hospital gown.

"How did this happen?" The doctor asked Nichole as he unwrapped Soda's makeshift bandage.

"I was running home, when I tripped and landed on a sharp rock." Nichole said.

"I see. Well you hurt yourself pretty bad, and you are going to be needing stiches. Also I would like to take an x-ray, to make sure the knee isn't broken." The doctor said.

"And what's going to happen if it is broken?" Soda asked.

"She will have to be put in a cast from about here," the doctor pointed at a place above Nichole's knee, "and down. She's going to be needed help with a few things, but that can be discussed later. Now let's just get this young lady down to x-ray."

The doctor stood up, and when Soda started to stand too, a nurse told Soda to sit back down, telling him to wait there. Nichole gulped, thinking that it's going to be really scary having to go there alone.

Another nurse pushed the bed that was on wheels, and the doctor followed alongside.

"So why were you running home?" The doctor asked.

"I was in a hurry." Nichole said, not wanting to tell the doctor that she was jumped by three drunk guys.

"I see, and who's the guy that was with you?" The doctor asked.

" _He probably wants to know this stuff because this is a time where girls can't do a lot on their own. Stupid 1963."_ Nichole thought.

"He's my cousin who went looking for me when I didn't come home on time." Nichole said.

The doctor nodded. "And where are your parents?"

"They're dead. I live with my cousins." Nichole said.

"I see." The doctor said.

There was no more conversation for which Nichole was glad since she didn't want to have to think of any more lies to tell him.

The x-ray was done quickly, and while Nichole was waiting for the results, she was taken back to where Soda was.

"How did it go?" Soda asked when the nurse left them alone to go do something else.

"The doctor asked a lot of questions that had nothing to do with my injury." Nichole said.

"Like wat?" Soda asked his eyebrow raised.

Nichole told him.

Soda clenched his fist. "I have no idea why any of that is his business."

"I know, but maybe he asked because we look like a couple of delinquents." Nichole said.

"Yeah maybe." Soda agreed, and took Nichole's hand to try and keep her calm. She didn't know that she was shaking though till Soda took her hand.

"Calm down, Nichole. You're going to be just fine." Soda said.

Nichole smiled a little bit at him. "I hope so, but what about the cost of the x-rays and stuff?"

"Don't worry about that. I got it." Soda said.

"Are you sure?" Nichole asked.

"Well you can't pay for it yourself now can you?" Soda pointed out.

"Good point." Nichole said.


	14. Chapter 14

The doctor came back holding a clipboard, and a nurse was walking next to him holding what was needed for a cast.

"Okay, lets show you two what's going on with Nichole's knee." The doctor said turning on this thing that showed x-rays, when they are printed out.

"Right here," The doctor said pointing at a place on Nichole's knee in the picture, "is a hairline fracture in the kneecap. Nichole you are going to be needing a cast for about 2 months, by then you will have to come back. We'll take the cast off then and see how it's doing. If it is not healed by then then a new cast will have to be put back on. During this time the cast cannot get wet. Do you understand?"

Nichole and Soda both nodded, but Nichole was freaking out a little bit on the inside because she was going to be needing help getting in and out of the shower, and the only other people that she knew would be able to help her where all men. So that made Nichole feel a little bit… scared.

The nurse then got to work on putting the cast on Nichole. It didn't take all that long, but it did hurt a lot.

When the nurse was gone, Soda picked up Nichole again in the same way that he had before.

"How are you feeling?" Soda asked.

"Fine," Nichole said, "I guess I'm going to have to wear skirts for a while now huh."

"Yeah. I guess that would be a little easier for you." Soda said, and he carried Nichole to where people can change.

"I'll go get you a nurse." Soda said sitting Nichole down on a bench in the changing area.

"No thanks. I think I got it this time." Nichole said and pulled the curtain closed so Soda wouldn't see anything.

When Nichole had managed to pull her pants back on again, she found a pair of sizers that she could use to cut the other pant leg. It was a little difficult to do, but she did manage to get it done without hurting herself. When she was done she tossed the pant leg in the garbage.

"Soda, can you come get me now?" Nichole called.

Soda pulled back the curtain, and looked at Nichole suspiciously. "How did you do that?" He asked pointing at Nichole's other now gone pant leg.

"Sizers." Nichole said.

"Okay. No more of that." Soda said picking Nichole up bridal-style again.

"And why not?" Nichole asked.

"Because I don't want you getting hurt." Soda said.

"Fine." Nichole said.

When they got back to the truck, Soda put Nichole in it, and locked her in.

"What are you doing?" Nichole asked her eyes wide with shock and fear.

"I'm going to the shop over there and get you a skirt." Soda said.

"But why are you just locking me in here?" Nichole asked.

"So no one can steal you." Soda said like it was the most logical thing in the world.

"And how are you going to get me a skirt if you don't take me with you?" Nichole said, "You don't even know my size."

"I think I can figure it out." Soda said with a smile and walked across the street to the store.

Nichole crossed her arms and waited for Soda. When he came back he handed Nichole three different coloured skirts.

"Thank you." Nichole said.

"You're welcome. When we get home, you can change so you're not in those cut-offs." Soda said.

"What's wrong with my cut-offs?" Nichole asked.

"They are too revealing for this time period." Soda said.

Nichole blushed. "If you think this is bad, you could see some of the shorts that some girls buy on purpose."

"No thanks." Soda said, and started driving down the road.

"Um Soda," Nichole said a few minutes later, "I have a question for you."

"What's the question?" Soda asked.

"Why did you kiss my cheek when you were so glad that I was alive?" Nichole asked.

"Well… I was relieved that you were alive, and I was glad that I didn't lose you. Besides it's not like I hadn't technically kissed you before." Soda said.

Nichole looked at Soda with wide shocked eyes, and her mouth dropped open, "W-what?"

"What part did you miss out on?" Soda asked.

"The part where you said that you kissed me before. I don't remember any other kiss than the one you planted on my cheek." Nichole said.

Soda's face started to go a little red. "When I gave you C.P.R I had to breathe for you three times."

Nichole's face went bright red. "H-how many breathes was it each time?"

"Two." Soda said.

"Oh, well um… thank you for helping me breathe." Nichole said looking down at her hands a little bit embarrassed now.

"You're welcome." Soda said, and he started to pay extra attention to the road, and when Nichole peaked up at Soda again a few moments later, she saw that he was still blushing like she was.

They didn't talk for the rest of the drive back home, or when Soda picked Nichole up and carried her in the house. The sun was close to rising now, and they were both pretty tired.

"Um, do you have to work today?" Nichole asked.

Soda shook his head. "No I have today off. Good thing though since I can get some sleep, and take care of you."

"I think that I can take care of myself." Nichole said.

Soda snorted. "I doubt that you could even make it to the bathroom on your own for a while."

"I could try, also there's something called a bucket." Nichole said.

Soda wrinkled his nose in disgust. "No I'll just take you to the bathroom."

"Okay. Thanks." Nichole said.

"No problem." Soda said.

When they got to Nichole's room, Soda gently sat Nichole down on her bed.

"Um, I'll let you get changed. If you need anything I'll just be on the other side of the door." Soda said and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

Nichole changed into one of the skirts as best as she could and threw the cut-offs in the hamper across the room.

"You can come back now if you want." Nichole called.

Soda opened the door and walked in. "How does it fit?"

"Good. Thank you again." Nichole said with a smile.

"You're welcome. Now, lie down and I'll tuck you in." Soda said.

Nichole raised an eyebrow at Soda. "I think I can do that by myself. Thank you."

Soda smiled. "I'm glad, because if you couldn't that would be a little awkward."

Nichole nodded in agreement, then she reached out to Soda for a hug.

Soda accepted and hugged Nichole tightly. Nichole then kissed Soda on the cheek. "Thank you for helping me, and saving my life."

Soda smiled, and pulled away then kissed Nichole's forehead. "Anytime. Good night Nichole." And with that Soda left the room.

[…]

Nichole slept well that night/morning considering the fact of what had happened to her. When she did wake up though it was about one in the afternoon, and when she woke up, she was shocked to see Soda standing in the door way.

"How long have you been standing there?" Nichole asked rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Um for about two minutes. I was just checking on you." Soda said.

"Well, what do you see?" Nichole asked.

"I see that you just woke up, and you seemed to have slept well even though you were just jumped no more than 12 hours ago." Soda said.

"Well. I know that I'm safe here, and nothing can happen to me since I have you and the gang looking out for me." Nichole said.

"Is that so?" Soda asked.

"Is that not what you're doing? Because if not, then I have no explanation as to why you yell at me every time that I go to do something that you consider dangerous." Nichole said.

"What do I consider dangerous?" Soda asked.

Nichole started listing things off on her fingers. "Me walking home after the sun has gone down, me washing knives, me accepting a drink of beer from Two-bit, me trying a cigarette. Need I go on?" Nichole asked.

"I never said that you can't wash knives, drink with Two-bit, or try cigarettes." Soda said.

"No, but you always got the look in your eyes that if I'm not carful. I'm going to die." Nichole said.

"Well that look must work since you never seem to do those things." Soda said.

"I only did those things once aside from washing knives. I do that one pretty much every time that I do the dishes." Nichole said.

"Good point. Where are we going with this?" Soda said.

"I'm asking you why you get mad at me every time that I do something dangerous." Nichole said.

"Oh… well…" Soda said scratching the back of his head, "I just don't want you to get hurt because… I care about you."

"I see, well I care about you too." Nichole said. She had no idea though what Soda meant when he said that he cared about her. She just thought that he meant that he cared about her as a friend.

Soda smiled a little bit. "Well, I'm glad that we're on the same page."

"Me too." Nichole said, hiding the disappointment that she felt in a smile of her own. "So how's the letter you're writing to Sandy?" She just wanted to change the subject.

"It's finished, and I sent it off before I heard you screaming for help. I was actually at the mail box when it happened." Soda said.

"I see. Well I'm glad that you finished the letter, and I hope that things work out with you two in the end." Nichole said, though she knew that it wasn't true.

"Umm, thanks. Hey, are you okay?" Soda asked, noting on the edge in Nichole's tone.

"Um, yeah. I'm fine I'm just a little sore." Nichole said.

"Well, I don't blame you for being sore. You have a pretty good bruise on your cheek." Soda said.

"I bet that's not the only one I've got. There's probably one on my stomach too." Nichole said.

"Why would there be one on your stomach?" Soda asked, and he looked a little concerned about Nichole. His hand twitched as if he was restraining himself from having a look at her stomach himself.

"Because I got punched in the stomach by one of the socs, then after he sat on my stomach so he could try and cut my hair. But he saw that there was sweat in my hair from me running, so then he decided to wash it out in the fountain." Nichole said, and a tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered how scared she was, and how she was sure that she was going to die.

Soda clenched his fists. "Do you know why he punched you?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"Um, he said that it was because I kicked him in the nuts. I only kicked him because he was being a creep, and he got too close. After that I ran away." Nichole said.

"I'm a little confused now. Could you tell me the howl story if you can?" Soda asked. He walked over to the other side of the bed where there was room for another person, and he sat down, but leaned himself against the headboard as if ready to hear the entire thing from beginning to end.

Nichole pulled herself into the best sitting position that she could manage with the cast and all of her pains complaining about sitting up. She rested her back against the headboard next to Soda. "All right, but I am probably going to be crying a little bit."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you. This getting jumped thing is hard for everyone when it happens." Soda said.

Nichole started her story from when she had decided to take a walk, and getting lost in her thoughts. However she didn't tell Soda what her thoughts were, since she didn't want Soda to get mad at her for knowing that Sandy was going to be sending the letter back unopened. She finished her story when she was dunked into the fountain, and everything going dark. It took a while to tell the story because, it was hard for Nichole to tell, and she did cry a lot too.

Throughout the entire story Soda was quiet, but when Nichole totally lost it, and sobbed for a bit when she was describing how scared she was and how she was sure that she was going to die since she couldn't get free. Soda had gently put an arm about her and told her that she was okay and safe now, and that she didn't have to tell him anymore if she didn't want to. Nichole had shaken her head said had said that she should just tell the entire story, and when she had regained control of her emotions, she continued to the end.

"Thank you for telling me your story, honey." Soda said and placed a kiss on the top of Nichole's hair.

"You're welcome." Nichole said. She thought that Soda must only be calling her honey, and kissing her because she was scared and hurting just like last night. So she didn't think about going to analyze it.


	15. Chapter 15

"Um, would you like me to get you anything, or to take you somewhere?" Soda asked after gently wiping the tears off Nichole's cheeks.

Nichole shrugged. "I kind of want to take a bath to watch the soc, and hospital off me, but I'm not too sure how to do that."

"I have an idea. Wait here, and I'll come get you." Soda said gently pulling away from Nichole, and standing up.

"That kind of makes me kind of nervous." Nichole said.

"What part?" Soda asked stopping at the door.

"The part about you having an idea about how I'm going to be taking a bath, with so woman around to help me." Nichole said.

"I can always call Two-bit's sister to come over and help." Soda said.

"That will be a little awkward too since she and I don't know each other." Nichole pointed out.

"Good point, so we'll be going with my idea." Soda said, and left the room.

When he came back a few moments later he picked up Nichole along with a change of clothes, and took her to the bathroom.

There on the floor was a bucket of warm soapy water next to three garbage bags and Nichole's towel.

Soda sat Nichole on the garbage bags, and explained his idea. "When I leave the room and shut the door, you are going to take off your clothes and put you're injured leg in this garbage bag, and tie it shut," Soda said handing Nichole the third bag. "Then you're going to watch yourself with the water that's in the bucket and the cloth. Then you dry yourself off, and put on the clean cloths. Then you call for me to come and get you. Savvy?"

Nichole smiled a little bit. "Thank you Soda."

"You're welcome. Now I'll just get out of your hair." Soda said standing up to go.

"Soda, you know you need to stop calling yourself dumb, because you are actually really smart." Nichole said.

Soda smiled and blushed a little bit. "Thanks Nichole." Then he left the room.

It wasn't all that hard for Nichole to wash herself with the method that Soda had provided for her. What was hard for her though was seeing the bruises that she got from being jumped. The one on her stomach was the size of Randy's fist, and it looked like it was going to be staying around for a while. The ones on her wrists were a little better since they didn't look as bad as the one on her stomach. Those seemed to be the only broses that were there that Nichole could find, aside from the one on her face that Soda told her was there. Nichole wished that she could have gotten a look at her face in the mirror when Soda walked in so she would have been able to see how bad it was.

There was a small hand mirror on the counter of the bathroom, and when Nichole was done cleaning herself, (she had even managed to wash her hair with the water that was left in the bucket.); she managed to pull herself onto the edge of the toilet, and pick up the hand mirror.

The bruise was right next to her mouth, it was small but it would still have the rest of the gang worry about her when they saw it, and found out about what had happened the night before. But when Nichole thought about it more, they would have worried about her anyway when they saw that her leg was in a cast. Johnny would probably be the worst off, because his being jumped was really bad. It was probably even worse than hers had been.

Nichole sighed, "I'll just have to take things as they come." She told herself.

Since she was already in reach of the sink, her hair brush, and her toothbrush, Nichole thought that it would be a good idea to deal with the rest of the needed that she wanted to get done before she called Soda back to come and get her.

When she was done, Nichole lowered herself back down to the floor and called Soda.

Soda opened the door and walked in. "How did it go?"

"Very well. Thank you." Nichole said with a smile.

"I'm glad." Soda said picking Nichole back up the same way that he had been for the entire time.

"Me too." Nichole said.

"Did you brush your hair?" Soda asked.

"Yes, and my teeth." Nichole said.

"How did you do that?" Soda asked.

"I'm stronger than I look." Nichole said.

"I know that. But how did you manage to get those things?" Soda asked.

"I pulled myself on to the toilet." Nichole said.

"That must have been a little hard." Soda said.

"Not really." Nichole said shrugging.

"Alright then. Where to next?" Soda asked walking out of the bathroom with Nichole in his arms.

"I am a little hungry." Nichole admitted.

"I knew you would be sooner or later. What would you like?" Soda asked.

"Do we still have apples?" Nichole asked.

"Um… I think so. Let's check." Soda said. He walked Nichole to the dining room and sat her down so he could go looking for food.

Soda came back with a cut up apple and some crackers. "You need more to eat than just the apple."

Nichole smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Soda said he left for a second, and came back with a glass of water too.

He set it down next to Nichole's plat. "Drink." He ordered.

Nichole raised an eyebrow at him, but took a sit of water.

Soda nodded, and went off to the bathroom, probably to clean up the plan that Nichole used to take a bit of a bath.

Nichole felt bad for not helping Soda, but she knew that there was nothing really that she could do to help with cleaning up, aside from dumping the used water in the tub which she had also dune before she had called Soda.

Ponyboy, Johnny, Dally, and Two-bit walked in the house while Nichole was having her snack, and she heard all three of them gasp.

For a second Nichole wasn't too sure what they were so shocked about until she realised that her leg with the cast on it was where they all could see it since when Soda came back from cleaning up. He had gotten Nichole to put her leg up on one of the other chairs since Nichole insisted to sit at the table to eat like a normal person.

"Um… Hi guys. How was school?" Nichole asked with a shy smile.

"What happened?" Johnny asked, and by the look on his face Nichole was sure that Johnny had guessed what had happened.

"Oh, Johnny. Come here." Nichole said her arms wide for a hug.

Johnny walked over, and hugged Nichole tightly. Nichole winced a little bit when Johnny accidentally bumped her injured knee.

"Sorry." Johnny said realising what he did.

"It's fine. No harm done." Nichole said.

"Who did that to you?" Ponyboy asked.

"I'm guessing the socs did it." Dally said.

Nichole looked down. "Yes they did."

"How did you get jumped, and beat up so badly?" Ponyboy asked.

"I can tell them for you Nichole." Soda said. He had left to take out the garbage, and had now just came back to see this.

Nichole nodded. "Okay. Thank you."

The five boys went in the living room, and Soda told them the entire story including his part in it.

[…]

"Describe those socs." Dally said.

"Why?" Soda asked.

"Just so if I ever run into them, I can beat the snot out of them." Dally said.

Two-bit nodded in agreement and cracked his knuckles. "I'll be happy to help you with that Dallas."

Dally nodded accepting the help probably thinking that it couldn't hurt since they were both strong guy, and there was safety in numbers.

Soda shrugged, and started his description of the three socs.

Johnny couldn't help a little scared sound as Soda talked about Randy, and his friends.

Soda, Ponyboy, and Dally looked over at Johnny. "What's wrong?" Ponyboy asked.

"They sound like the three of the guys that jumped me." Johnny said, and everyone there could see that he was shaking.

Dally's eyes narrowed, and he clenched his fists as if he was going to start punching the wall. "Then I'll beat them twice as hard when I find them."

"But aren't we missing one? The guy with the rings?" Ponyboy asked.

Johnny shook his head. "No. That was the guy that killed Steve. He's in jail now. And it said in the paper that he was going to be getting the chair for murder, and attempted murder."

"Good," Dally said, "That's what he deserves."

"It's too bad that we couldn't rough him up a little first for beating up Johnny in the first place." Two-bit said.

Dally nodded in agreement. It was just too bad.

Darry walked in next. He looked tired from a long day at work.

"Hi, Darry." Ponyboy said with a smile.

Darry smiled a little back and waved at the four boys. Then he walked into the kitchen to get a drink.

[…]

Nichole was picking at the lint on her skirt when Darry walked into the dining room from the kitchen. When he saw Nichole he stopped dead in his tracks.

Nichole looked up, and smiled at Darry. "Um, welcome home."

"What happened?" Darry asked looking at Nichole's led.

Everyone looking at her leg made Nichole start to feel a little self-conscious, so she tried to cover it up a little more with her skirt. It didn't work so well.

"Um, I got jumped by three socs last night." Nichole said, looking down at her leg.

"How bad is it?" Darry asked.

"My knee is broken." Nichole said.

"I see. Um how are you getting around?" Darry asked.

"Soda had been carrying me." Nichole said.

Darry shook his head and sighed. "Wait here. I'll be right back." He walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later holding a pair of crutches.

"These are from when I broke my leg when I was about the same age at Soda. They're adjustable so I think that they'll be able to help you." Darry said handing them to Nichole.

Nichole smiled at Darry in gratitude. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now let's get these to fit you." Darry said, and helped Nichole stand up on her good leg and Darry adjusted the crutches so they would fit Nichole.

Nichole was glad that she was now able to get around on her own, and wouldn't have to ask someone to help her get around. Though it would take some getting used to.

Nichole then walked into the living room smiling. "Hi guys."

Soda's eyes widened in surprise. "Where did you get those?"

"Darry said that he still had these from when he broke his leg, so he said that I can use them to get around." Nichole said still smiling.

"I see." Soda said, and Nichole couldn't tell if he was happy that Nichole could get around on her own or not.

Johnny went over to Nichole and hugged her as best as he could without hurting her, or making her fall. "Poor Nichole." He said.

"Johnny? What's wrong?" Nichole asked concerned about him.

"You were jumped by some of the same guys that jumped me." Johnny said.

Nichole gently patted Johnny's shoulder, because she wasn't able to hug him back with her crutches. "I know I did. And now I know how scared you were when you were jumped by them. And how you felt after."

"How did you know that they were the same guys?" Johnny asked.

"Um… they were in the book. So it wasn't that had to recognise them." Nichole said.

Johnny nodded understanding, and pulled away.

"So how long are you in that cast for?" Ponyboy asked.

Nichole shrugged. "The doctor said about two months, but doctors have been wrong before."

"That's true." Dally agreed

"Hey so then for now we get to call you 'Hop-along' right?" Two-bit asked, and by the smile on his face Nichole could tell that he was only joking around. Though behind his back, Nichole could also see that Soda was giving Two-bit a death glare.

Nichole shook her head, but was smiling. "That's a very funny nick-name Two-bit, but I think that I would like being called it all the time."

Two-bit shrugged. "Fair enough. It was only a joke anyway. I didn't mean anything by it."

Soda's face started to relax, and Nichole wasn't scared for Two-bit's life anymore.

"I know, Two-bit." Nichole said with a smile.


	16. Chapter 16 -The End

It had been two weeks since the incident with the socs, and Nichole's knee was starting to heel nicely. She could tell because her knee was starting to itch as if there were a lot of mosquito bites on her leg that she couldn't get at in her cast.

"Don't scratch." Soda said for about the thousandth time when he came in from getting the mail, and saw Nichole propped up on the couch glaring at her leg.

"Shut up. It's my leg and I can do whatever I want with it." Nichole said. She grabbed her hair brush off the coffee table and started to stick the handle down her cast.

As Soda walked by he took the hair brush away before Nichole could do that.

"Hey!" Nichole said now glaring at Soda.

"You're not supposed to scratch." Soda said.

"You try not scratching an itch for a while. See how you like it. And the only one that said I wasn't supposed to scratch was you." Nichole said.

Soda just kept on walking away.

Nichole stood up on her crutches, and went to the kitchen to get a wooden spoon. She was on a mission now, and she wouldn't stop till she could scratch.

No one was in the kitchen but her, so Nichole was able to get a spoon and scratch till the pinch was gone. After that Nichole washed it and put it away.

"Victory!" Nichole exclaimed happily.

Nichole then started to go down the hall to see if she could get her hair brush back from Soda, but when she got to his room, that thought left her right away.

Soda was sitting on the bed, holding an envelope, with tears running down his face.

"Soda what is it?" Nichole asked her eyes wide. She worked her way to Soda as fast as she was able to, and sat down next to him.

"She sent it back. She didn't even open it." Soda said. His hand was shaking now.

Nichole's eyes widened. She knew what Soda meant because it had happened every time that she had read the book. Sandy had sent the letter back unopened because she didn't want to hear what Soda had to say anymore.

"Oh Soda." Nichole said. She didn't know what to do or say after that. She wanted to help Soda of course, but she didn't know how to do that.

"Why would she do this?" Soda sked.

" _For the same reason she cheated on you. She's a bitch and you deserve better."_ Was what Nichole thought. What she actually said was, "I don't know Soda."

"What should I do now?" Soda asked.

Nichole shrugged. "I...I don't know, sorry Soda."

"That's a lie, Nichole. I can hear it in your voice. You do know what I should do, and you're not telling me." Soda said his voice rising.

"What do you want me to tell you Soda?" Nichole asked.

"The truth. What do you think that I should do?" Soda asked.

"If I tell you what I think, then you'll only get more upset." Nichole said.

"I don't care. Just tell me!" Soda said. He was close to yelling now.

Nichole took a deep breath, and let it out. "You should forget her, because you deserve better. First she cheats on you and gets herself pregnant with another guy's kid, then she sends the letter that took you days to write back without opening it. She is a bitch and a whore, and you deserve a lot better than her!"

Soda looked at Nichole with his eyes wide. "Is that what you think?"

"It's what I know Soda. Sandy is a terrible person, and I hate her for what she has done to you." Nichole said.

"How do you know this?" Soda asked.

Nichole looked down at her lap, unable to look Soda in the eye. "Because it's in the book."

Soda dropped the letter, and it fell to the floor. "You knew and you didn't tell me!" He yelled, and Nichole flinched.

"Yes." Nichole said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Soda asked still yelling.

"How could I tell you something like that huh?" Nichole said now looking at Soda her voice rising as she her own tears started to flow. "I couldn't just go up to you and tell you everything, because there was a small chance that it wouldn't happen. That she would at least answer your letter, and beg for your forgiveness for cheating on you. But obviously not everything can change. Sandy stayed exactly the same, just like she always had and always will. Also there was a chance that if I did tell you that you wouldn't believe me when I told you, until it either did happen or didn't. Also if I did tell you, you could have believed what I told you, that I could have hurt you with what I knew, and I didn't want to do that because I love you, and I couldn't bear to hurt you like that. So that's why I didn't tell you even though I wanted to. I wanted to hit Sandy the moment I met her for hurting you over, and over again!"

Soda just sat there in shock.

Nichole stood up and started to work her crutches out of the room, everything had come out in a rush she didn't realise that she had just told Soda that she loved him. All that Nichole knew was that she got her point across as to why she didn't tell Soda about what Sandy was going to do.

Soda stood up grabbed Nichole, spun her around, making her drop her crutches, and hugged her tightly.

Nichole was confused. Soda was supposed to be mad at her, not hugging her like this. She would have pulled away, but right now Soda was the only thing that was holding her up, and if she tried to pull away, Nichole would fall, and would not be able to get up on her own.

"Um what's the hug for?" Nichole asked.

"I love you too." Soda said.

Nichole's face went bright red. "W…what?"

"You said that you love me, so I'm telling you back. Is that okay?" Soda asked.

"When did I tell you that?" Nichole asked.

"You just told me a minuet ago," Soda said, "don't you remember?"

"No, because I was rambling, and when I did that everything comes out so fast that I don't know everything that I said, but I always know that I get my point across." Nichole said.

"So you didn't mean it?" Soda asked, and there was hurt in his voice.

"No, no that's not it! I did mean it when I said that I love you. I just didn't think that I would ever tell you that." Nichole said.

"Why?" Soda asked.

"Because I didn't think that you could love me back." Nichole said.

"What makes you think that?" Soda asked.

"Because you're in love with Sandy, and I didn't want to stand in the way of that if she did answer your letter, and came back someday." Nichole said.

"I see, but I'll get over Sandy someday. And I can start by going out with you." Soda said, and Nichole could hear that he was smiling.

Nichole's face started to feel a little hotter. "Um…okay."

"You don't sound too happy." Soda said.

"That's maybe because this is all happening so fast, and you pretty much _told_ me that we're going out. You didn't ask me." Nichole said.

"Oh…right sorry." Soda said. He was about to just let go of Nichole, but she grabbed onto his arms before he could.

"What?" Soda asked.

"If you let go of me. I'll fall to the floor because when you hugged me my crutches fell." Nichole said.

"Sorry…again." Soda said.

He picked up Nichole, and gently sat her down on the bed, and sat next to her.

"Wow, your face is really red right now." Soda said smiling.

Nichole touched her cheeks in an effort to hide them. That just made Soda smile even more. He kissed her forehead.

"So, um what now?" Nichole asked.

"I was thinks about asking you to be my girl. So do you want to be?" Soda asked.

Nichole could only nod, because she couldn't find her voice.

Soda smiled, and kissed Nichole softly.

Five years latter…

It was Ponyboy's nineteenth birthday, and Nichole was baking a cake, which she found difficult with Soda hovering around to make sure that she didn't hurt herself.

"Would you calm down, Soda. I've done this a thousand times, and I have never gotten hurt." Nichole said.

"True, but you haven't with that in the way." Soda said pointing at Nichole's stomach.

Nichole looked down at her own rounding belly. She had only been pregnant for four months and Soda was already worrying about her hurting herself or the baby she carried.

"You worry too much." Nichole said, and gave Soda a kiss.

"No I don't." Soda said.

"Yes you do. You always do." Nichole said, and put the cake in the oven. She was carful when she did so though.

"Name one time." Soda said.

Nichole gave him a look, while crossing her arms. Her wedding band shining in the light coming in through the window. The look said. _"Don't argue with your wife."_

"You have that look down and we haven't even been married for a year yet." Soda said with a smile.

"I've had a lot of practice." Nichole said.

There was a big crash from the living room and Nichole and Soda hurried out of the kitchen to see what was going on.

"What happened?" Nichole demanded.

Johnny was on the floor rubbing his head with the step latter lying next to him. Johnny, Dally, and Two-bit were decorating the living room for a surprise for Ponyboy before he came home from work at the newspaper office. The room looked nice so far, with the homemade streamers, but the Happy Birthday banner looked like it was being put up when Johnny fell.

"I lost my balance on the step latter. I'm fine though." Johnny said seeing the worried look on Nichole's face.

Nichole ignored that Johnny said that he was fine, and checked his head anyway. She sighed in relief when she didn't see blood or a bruise forming.

"Just be more careful." Nichole said.

"I will." Johnny said.

Over the years Johnny had become Nichole's best friend, and was also like a brother to her. So of course Nichole was going to worry about Johnny. Soda never seemed to mid this at all either.

Dally and Two-bit put up the banner without using the step ladder, so Johnny didn't have to do it and get hurt again.

"Are you sure you should be running around?" Johnny asked Nichole concerned.

Nichole put a hand over her eyes. "Not you too."

"What?" Johnny asked.

"Both you and Soda are worrying too much. I'm fine, nothing bad is going to happen. I'm not going to lose the baby by running. The doctor said so." Nichole explained.

Johnny shrugged. "Okay then. I was just checking."

"You can't blame us for worrying." Dally said.

"Yeah," Two-bit agreed, "We don't want the new member of the gang to get hurt before he can actually join."

"What makes you think it's a boy?" Nichole asked.

Two-bit shrugged. "It's easier to teach a boy to spit, and curse and how to be a smart ass."

Nichole's eyes narrowed, and so did Soda's.

"You're not teaching the baby any of those things." Nichole said.

"And why not?" Two-bit asked.

"Because it's the baby belongs to Soda, and me and we decide what to teach it. And you shouldn't teach a baby stuff like that till he or she is at least…" Nichole trailed off not too sure what age would be a good one during this time period.

"Thirteen." Soda said. Nichole nodded.

"You guys are no fun." Two-bit said.

"If you want to teach a kid how to do those things right away. Go have your own." Nichole said.

Two-bit shook his head. "Naah. Too much work, and then I'll have to get a job too."

The timer dinged then, and Nichole went to take the cake out of the oven. Soda was right behind her. While that was happening Darry came in.

He told the guys that they were doing a great job, and Nichole could hear that from the kitchen.

"You know. He's only joking right?" Soda asked.

"Yes, but it is hard to tell with him sometimes." Nichole said taking the cake out of the oven, and then getting to work on making the icing for when it cooled.

[…]

Ponyboy came home when the sun was going down, and they all had a nice birthday party. It was a nice day for having a party, and Nichole couldn't help thinking that everything is going to be just fine for the rest of her life with the gang.

The End

 **Well everyone this is it. This is the end of Nichole's story with** _ **The Outsiders**_ **gang that we all know and love. I hope that you all have enjoyed this journey of this fanfiction as much as I have. Thank you to all that have read and reviewed this story.**

 **Now for explaining how I got the last nine chapters up so fast. I have been writing the story really fast from the beginning. I actually had the first five or so chapter's already written before I had even put up my first chapter. This was because the first story I wrote was a flop since it wasn't planned out. It turned really dark, and I wasn't proud of it at all. So I took it down. Then this story was started and I wrote the first five or so chapters within two days with pretty much no social life at all. By the time the fifth chapter was done it was good enough, and I was ready to put the first one up, and had everyone wait for a week and sometimes even longer for the next one…I'm sorry, but also not sorry. So you can yell at me all you want.**

 **I also have a question for you guys. Are you glad that Nichole ended up with Soda in the end? Or did you want her to end up with someone else? Please let me know on your thoughts about this matter because I'm really curious.**

 **I have said this before at the beginning of the story, but it doesn't hurt to say it again. I do not own** _ **The Outsiders**_ **this novel has and always will be owned by S.E. Hinton.**

 **Again, thank you all for reading my story, and hopefully I'll write another one in the future. That's all for now.**

 **Happy reading!**


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